


Support

by Cheapie15



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alchemy, F/M, Guns, Healing (alchemy), Healing (mentally), I'm not actually sure where it will go tbh, Maybe - Freeform, OC, POV Third Person Limited, Sorry this won't have sex., Violence is only as depicted in the series, definitely fluff, duh - Freeform, f/m - Freeform, female oc - Freeform, fluff?, yisss
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-08-05 16:38:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 31,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16371242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cheapie15/pseuds/Cheapie15
Summary: She was the healer, the sniper, the friend. She was the brothers' support. SI-OC/Edward Elric. Follows 2009 anime





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! It's me, you sexy beasties.
> 
> I know not everyone likes OC inserts, but I really happen to enjoy them. It's a good way to start original writing, even if its only the characters and several subplots. It also really allows the author to get into a good rhythm with pacing.
> 
> Note: I am a huge EdWin shipper, don't get me wrong. I'm not going to destroy Winry's character or make her the most annoying person possible. It just happens that Edward will fall in love with someone else who was quicker on the uptake and has spent a longer amount of time with him through his rougher years. I love Winry's character, and she is still going to get her happy ending, don't worry.
> 
> Extra Note: If you find this same story on FF.net, do not despair over plagiarism, because it is NOT. I'm just using good marketing skills, haha.
> 
> Blanket Disclaimer :) : I do not own Full Metal Alchemist 2003, Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood 2009, or the manga. I only own Michaela and maybe some more characters on the road ahead.
> 
> Thanks for reading!

Through the window of the speeding train, the countryside passed by quickly as rolling hills formed pastures that formed crop fields that formed small towns on an ever-repeating cycle. Michaela's eyes had long since glazed over at the constantly changing scenery, lost in her thoughts. She wondered was Liore would be like. As far as she knew, the city was set in the middle of a mountain range, with a fairly lush landscape. Kaela had never seen mountains before. She wondered how big they really were.

"Nii-San. Kaela." A metallic voice called Michaela from her thoughts. She turned her head just as the boy across her grunted his response.

Alphonse, who sat next to Edward in the aisle seat, managed to look concerned even though only his helmet was visible. The faint glow of his eyes glanced between his brother and friend.

"The rumors about the priest in Liore..," he began. Both Edward and Michaela turned their full attention to the suit of armor. "Do you think they're true?"

The two glanced at each other. Edward placed two fingers to his temple and scrunched his eyebrows together in thought. "About his miraculous works? They say he can transmute flowers out of thin air, right? It could just be a sleight of hand," he said in a tone of obvious disbelief.

Michaela narrowed her eyes at him. "You're making pessimistic assumptions again, Ed. If you keep having an attitude like that, then it definitely there." She turned to his brother. "I heard from some travelers that they were raising the dead, there."

"So it's possible that it's not just a magic trick," Al said.

"Yeah. And if it's not, it might just be, yeah?" Edward began to grin. He turned to his brother a moment. "Al. Kaela"

"What is it?"

"Hmm?"

"I sure hope this is it this time," he said, the hope spreading across his face, making Michaela smile.

"Mm-hmm," Al said warmly. "Right."

It was silent again. Michaela began looking out the window, losing herself in her memories.

*****

The Rockbells had taken Kaela in one stormy night when she had arrived, hugging her tiny, malnourished body in an attempt to keep herself warm. She only knew one phrase, one she repeated over and over, "My name is Michaela." The Rockbells had determined it to be a case of amnesia, though whether it was because of physical or mental trauma, they were unsure.

Kaela quickly established herself in the household. Winry more or less forced her new sister to become her new playmate to "even it out" when it came to being the only two girls their age in Resembool. Well, they guessed Kaela was around Winry's age; Michaela hadn't been able to remember that either.

Winry's parents had taken to their adoptive child, with her enormous interest in the field of medicine and healing. They taught her the basics and beyond, while Winry's interests wandered into where machinery and human sciences combined. Kaela medicinal knowledge and skills, albeit with slow progress at first, soon surpassed the Rockbell's daughter.

The thirst for the knowledge to help others nearly consumed Kaela. After Winry's parents had gone to serve as surgeons in the war nearly a year later, and Kaela had read all the medical books in their house, she found herself in the neighbor boys' home one day, absorbed in an alchemy book.

This was the real beginning of Kaela and the Elric's friendship. Sure, they had played together with Winry, but neither had made an effort to talk to each other beyond discussing games. Now, the three of them had a common interest outside of Winry.

At first, Edward had been angry to find her in their father's study, books strewn all over the floor. He and Alphonse already got in trouble enough when they did that. Then, he had realized that Kaela had found a book they hadn't seen before, and his anger was replaced with curiosity. Alphonse always followed behind, apologizing for his older brother's brusque behavior.

So after a while, it was no surprise to the boys' mother, Trisha Elric, when she found them in the study, alchemy and science booked scattered everywhere Al and Kaela lying on their stomachs engrossed in a book, and Edward drawing a strange symbol on the floor with chalk.

"Oh, my," she said, a mixture of exasperation crossing her face. "Messing up your dad's study, again?" Upon seeing the chalk on the floor, she gasped. "No, you mustn't scribble there like that."

"It's not scribbling! Watch," Edward said, looking up at his mother. A flash of blue lightning lit the room.

Her face transformed in surprise as she stared at the wooden bird on the floor. "That's alchemy, right?" She crouched down to the children's level. "Did your dad teach you that?"

"How can we learn anything from someone who's not here?"

"We read the book, and it was written in there," Al said. Kaela held the book up, its strange symbols on the cover similar to that which was on the floor.

"It was written in there?" Trisha asked dubiously.

The Elric brothers sagged simultaneously. "Should we not have done it?"

Kaela hesitated and said, "I'm sorry, Ma'am."

"No, don't be sorry at all!" It was like a switch had been flipped. Trisha clapped her hands together and beamed at her children. "Amazing! You're your father's sons, all right! Mom is so proud of all three of you."

Kaela felt a warm twist in her chest. Though Yuriy and Sarah Rockbell had acted like her guardians and had supplied her with unconditional love, Trisha had just dubbed herself Kaela's "mom." Edward and Alphonse smiled to each other, already taking for granted what Kaela had never experienced before.

After that, Kaela found herself almost always in the Elric house. Trisha never minded, and always insisted on Kaela also calling her "Mom." The brothers warmed up to their new peer as they studied and exchanged information, all three gushing over each new thing they found.

So when Trisha passed away, Kaela felt the devastation right alongside the brothers. Though unsure of how to comfort her new friends, she remained a constant in their everyday lives. Whether it was simply being another human in their house or making them dinner, she stayed. Edward and Alphonse were the only friends she had, except Winry.

She overheard them one evening when Pinako asked her to bring them over to the Rockbell house for supper. Kaela had searched everywhere for them, though she knew exactly where they would be: the cemetery.

"He didn't even come home for Mom's funeral!" Kaela heard Ed shout from the entrance. She quietly made her way toward them. A few moments later, when she was close enough to hear, Ed whispered to his brother, "Maybe we could bring Mom back."

Her heart stopped. Bring Trisha back? As in back from the dead? But that would mean…

Alphonse voiced her thoughts. "But it was written in one of the books that creating people is something you're not allowed to do."

"That's why it will be our secret." Edward stood. He was only a child, and yet his shoulders sagged as if the weight of the world was using him as a crutch.

"You're here again." A voice behind Kaela made her jump. Ed and Al turned to look and see who the voice belonged to. Oh, no. Edward's eyes rested on her, a burning fury surfacing. Kaela flinched and instead faced Winry.

Ed must have chosen to ignore the fact that Kaela had definitely overheard the brothers, and a called, "What do you two want?"

"Grandma says that every time you think of a dead person and cry," Winry said, "the more tears you shed, the more the person in the next world feels sad, too." Pinako must have sent Winry to go find the three of them when Kaela hadn't returned. Kaela made her way over to her sister.

"We're not crying!" Ed yelled. "What about you? Your mom and dad are always out somewhere, and you cry because you miss them."

"Wha- I don't cry!" Winry retorted, her face flushing with embarrassment. Kaela reached her sister and placed a hand on her shoulder, sending a flash of her own wrath to the boy. Winry had only been trying to make them feel better, and yet he had lashed out at her. Deep inside, though, she knew that Ed was only hurt, an animal unwilling to let anyone else treat its wounds.

Winry and Edward bantered between each other for a while longer before Winry dashed to her house without Kaela, upset and frustrated. As she ran off, Edward didn't say a word as he strode over to Kaela.

Their noses nearly touched when he growled, "If you say anything to anyone, I won't see your face again." Alphonse quickly ran in between the two, trying to ease the tension in the middle by placing his hands on their shoulders.

Kaela scowled. Though Ed could be a brute, he didn't scare her anymore. Earlier, she had felt guilty for overhearing what was supposed to be a private conversation, but something had struck Kaela at that moment, and she was glad she had heard it.

"What if I helped you, instead?"

Both Edward and Alphonse's eyes grew rounder than the moon at her suggestion. Kaela felt a pile of nerves settle in her stomach, but she refused to back off. This was her way of helping them. This was how she would repay them for their kindness. Trisha's kindness.

"Why?" Edward's voice cracked slightly, his face falling and eyebrows knitting.

Kaela felt the urge to look away. "She was my mom, too."

"We're not related."

"Maybe not by blood," Kaela said, taking Al's hand from her shoulder and Ed's from his side, squeezing them both. "But she's the closest person I've had to one."

All three of their eyes watered as the brothers nodded in unison, signaling their approval.

A few days later on the way to school, Winry stated, "You're reading from a book that's not from school, again." When Edward stayed quiet, she prodded further. "Say, what sort of book are you reading?"

"It's a secret." Alphonse grinned from her right.

"Kaela, do you know anything about this?" On Winry's left, Kaela only hummed in response, giving off neither positive nor negative connotations.

"It's none of your business, anyway, Winry," Ed said from the front of the group.

Winry huffed in response. "No fair! You three always keep secrets between yourselves!"

Al chuckled as he ran to catch up with his brother. "Bye, now! We'll meet you later, Kaela," he called.

"Bye-bye!"

"Ed! Al! We're having stew tonight!" Winry called. Alphonse whooped and pumped his fist into the air whereas Edward simple gave a casual confirmation of his required presence.

Those days were so relaxed compared what was to come. It was decided that Ed and Al would do the actual transmutation, given their talent exceeded mine. But everything else, Kaela managed to force her way into. Even when Ed and Al left to train under an alchemy teacher, she was able to convince Granny that she would watch out for them and make sure they didn't get into trouble. Throughout the next couple of years, they read and studied, studied and practiced. The trio garnered enough knowledge that State Alchemists would achieve in a decade, through sheer determination and the wish live happily with Trisha Elric once more.

The day of the actual transmutation, the brothers did their work down in the basement of their house while Kaela stood guard upstairs, acting as the lookout. As much as she wished to help, she knew with her lesser skills that she wouldn't be as useful as she was as the scout. It was maybe only twenty minutes since Kaela had seen Edward sign his draft of human transmutation that he had written for future reference that she heard a strange sound from below.

"Ed? Al?" Kaela shouted down the basement stairway.

And then she heard him. "Nii-san, Nii-san! Nii-san!

"Al!" She skipped two stairs on the way down. Edward's screams of agony flooded Kaela's ears as she reached the bottom.

What she saw before her was burned forever into her mind.

A blue glow filled the room, coming from the easily distinguishable transmutation symbol on the floor written in chalk. In the center, a disgusting, dripping, black … thing moaned. On the edge of the circle where the creature faced, Alphonse's clothes lay flat on the stone floor, as if he had vanished. And the blood. Oh, God, the blood. A blood trail of crimson red lead to Edward crawling toward the circle with his left leg only a blood, squirting stump.

"Edward!" Kaela rushed over to him, horror contorting her face. "Ed! What happened! Where's Al?"

Ed ignored her as he slapped an arm onto the floor, dragging himself forward. "Damn! This can't be happening!" He cried. "It wasn't … It wasn't supposed to … damn it all!"

He looked behind him, tears of anger and pain dripping from his eyes. "It's been taken away!" Edward fell to the ground and mumbled several things, looking toward the center of the circle. Kaela grimaced.

The creatures breaths became labored as it reached out, blood splattering the cold stone below. Edward's face became more and more aghast as the blood seeped from what was supposed to be his mother. "No … this is wrong … this isn't … this isn't what we wanted!"

Kaela grit her teeth and crouched down, staring into Edwards eyes that were now just seeing her. "Edward! What happened?"

"Kae … Kaela?" Edward was shocked for only a moment before his expression became hardened. "Help me!"

"How?"

He pointed to the enormous suit of armor on the wall. "Bring me that … I gotta save Alphonse!"

Kaela didn't question it. Edward had read far more of his father's books than she had, and he would surely know a way to bring his brother back. She hauled the armor over to him, and it clattered to the ground.

"Damn it, damn it!" Edward cried out almost manically. "Give him back! He's my brother!" He drew a strange symbol on the armor in his own blood, one that looked only vaguely familiar. "Take my leg, take my arm! Take my heart! You can have it! So, give him back! He's my only brother!"

Edward clapped his hands together, an alchemical light sprung forth.

After that, Kaela didn't remember much. Everything else was a blur. She barely remembered trudging home with a suit of armor that talked like Alphonse did, carrying his brother who was missing two of his limbs.

Eventually, Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye had barged into Granny's home and yelled, "We went to your house! What was that over there? What did you make?!" Edward's broken face mirrored how all three of us felt inside. Kaela wordlessly shoved Mustang, causing him to drop Edward back into his wheelchair. Before Mustang could start after her, too, Alphonse placed a gauntlet hand on the officer's arm.

"We're sorry. Please forgive us." Kaela couldn't look at the man in blue. Her guilt overflowed to heavily, and she knew he could see it, too. She should have stopped them that day at the cemetery. She should have been down there with them in the basement. Al repeated, "We're sorry … we're sorry … we're sorry."

"This is a surprise," Mustang had said once they had all sat down like civilized people at the dinner table. Granny sat at the opposite end of the officer, while Edward and Kaela sat on the sides, with Alphonse standing guard behind his brother. Winry had been sent into another room shortly prior. "I had heard that there was a brilliant alchemist here, so I came to see him, but I never imagined that a child like this could ever perform human transmutation, imperfect though it was, and even bond a soul. He is more than qualified to become a state alchemist.

"Once he becomes a state alchemist, he will have to serve as a soldier in the event of an emergency, but at the same time, he will receive various special privileges, and research of the highest level will become possible for him. They may even find a way to get their bodies back, or -"

Granny smacked her pipe into the ashtray, although no one even flinched. She spoke with a hard voice. "After he came stumbling in her, covered with blood, I went over to their house. What was there …" Granny glanced down and shivered. "What was there was not human! Is alchemy what created that horrific thing? I'm against it! Would you have these boys go through hell again?"

Mustang looked at Edward, unfazed by Granny's objection. "I'm not forcing you. I'm just offering you the possibility. Will you end your days in despair, or will you seek the possibilities and bow to the military? If the possibility is there, you should move forward, in order to get your bodies back. Even if the way ahead is through a river of mud."

The man then stood. "I must take my leave. If you decide to take up our offer, head to Amestris and make your way to headquarters. Tell them Roy Mustang sent for you." And with that, the Lieutenant Colonel left the house, taking Hawkeye with him.

The following year, Edward and Alphonse trained in their bodies, while she had gotten her hands on a hand pistol. Edward had advanced a hundred times further after the incident, and Alphonse was still head and shoulders above Kaela in terms of skill. Instead, she trained herself to be used by the brothers as a means of support, whether it was through patching Edward up or covering his back from far away.

When Edward came back from his certification, Kaela demanded to go with him on his journey.

"What? No way!"

"What do you mean, no way?"

"This isn't your fight, Michaela!." Ed's scathing tone no longer bit her as they had three years ago. Kaela shrugged it off.

"I was there, Ed. I could have stopped you. I could have helped you. The weight is still there." She pursed her lips as she nearly stared down at him. "Besides. You'll need someone to patch you up and guard your back, and though Al can handle the latter, I doubt he'll be able to put a thread through the eye of a needle and sew skin together."

Al rose his hand for a moment, then lowered it in defeat. Ed huffed and looked away, frustrated.

"What about Winry?"

"She's a lot less likely to get herself killed."

"Fine. Fine. You can come with. It's not like I've ever been able to stop you before." A small grin ghosted his lips.

*****

Kaela woke with a start, jolted from a bump in the tracks. She blinked wearily, a yawn escaping her as she stretched her back. In front of her, Edward rested asleep against the window, oblivious the coming of dawn. Glancing over at Al, always awake, he gave what would be considered his version of a smile through the glow of his eyes.

The suit of armor turned the small boy pinched between him and the window. He nudged him gently. "Nii-san, we're almost there."

Edward's eyes opened slowly, and he focused on something in the distance. He grinned deviously.

"The Philosopher's Stone!"


	2. City of Heresy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Michaela, Edward, and Alphonse travel to Liore in search of the Philosopher's Stone in response to strange rumors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, my lovelies!
> 
> Wow, this chapter is looonnnnggg. Well, it's only a little more than 6000 words, but that's a lot to handle when you have to go back and forth, back and forth between the show and your writing to make sure everything is as accurate as possible! However, anything for you beautiful people!
> 
> Enjoy this chapter!

Liore was a fairly small city (though much larger than Resembool) with an enormous cathedral in the center that could be seen for miles. The mountains surrounding it kept the wind at bay, and the sun peaked out from behind them around breakfast time, making it a lovely day.

The three alchemists sat at an outdoor bar, still groggy from the train ride that ended merely thirty minutes prior. While Edward chugged his orange juice and scarfed some unidentifiable meat, Michaela took her time sipping her tea and chewing her peanut butter sandwich. It wasn't often the trio was able to sit down and eat like this; often times, it was food on the go or none at all. She peeked over at Ed, still munching on what Kaela hoped was sausage, and grimaced. Sure, Alphonse wasn't in his own body, but he had been taller than his older brother when he was ten. Despite all of the food Ed could manage to stuff in his stomach, he hadn't grown more than an inch in the last four years.

"Ed." Kaela nudged his elbow with hers to get his attention. His eyes slid over to her as he took an enormous bite, grunting to show that he was listening. Kaela eyed the orange juice for a moment before speaking. "You should start ordering milk."

The state alchemist nearly choked on his food, his eyes bulging. Al began frantically patting his back in an attempt to keep his brother from asphyxiating. When he regained his composure, Ed whipped around in his chair to glare at her.

"You're just as bad as Winry," he began, pointing a finger at her. "No, you're worse! You have been hounding me for months now. You … you're as bad as Granny!"

"You're just as short." Kaela had to force her mouth into a firm line to keep herself from laughing. Although it was true that she worried about how it had been a while since Ed was supposed to hit puberty, Kaela couldn't help but turn it into a game: how many times is one able to nag Ed until he physically imploded?

While Ed began yelling obscenities at her, which only equated to around twelve-year-old banter, Kaela turned her attention to the radio as she sipped her tea. An old man's voice crackled its way through the box over Al's head in a rhythmic pulse, one that was meant for persuasion.

"God's children, who live upon this land, pray in faith, and ye shall be saved. The Sun God Leto-"

"Are you guys street performers?" The man running the bar asked with suspicion in his eyes. Ed, who had taken a quick break from yelling at Kaela, spit out his juice.

"Where do you get the idea we're street performers?" He asked demandingly, slamming his cup down. Kaela could only roll her eyes. How could they  _not_  look like street performers? An enormous man running around in a full suit of foreign armor and a small boy dressed in clothes that belonged to the rich folk of Amerstris? Not to mention a girl with a handgun on each hip and thick bandages covering her hands.

"You're not, then?"

"Thanks for the lunch." Ed stood up, a heavy sigh escaping his lips.

"Wait, this isn't breakfast?" Kaela asked almost pleadingly. When Ed shot her a look, she hung her head, wishing she had ordered more food. She and Al stood at the same time to leave. Unfortunately, Al his head on the top roof of the bar, and knocked the radio where it had sat on the lip.

The bartender cried out and said in an angry tone, "Hey, excuse me, mister!"

Ed's face did a complete turn around as he smiled at the flustered man. "Sorry, sorry. We can fix it."

"Thank God we can, because Al is the reason we can't have nice things," Kaela said with a cheeky grin, patting the suit of armor on its shoulder.

"Don't make fun of me, Kaela. I still don't have a good feel for this body." Al pouted. He crouched down and pulled out a piece of chalk, already drawing the transmutation circle within seconds. A crowd of people came to see the commotion going on. Al stood, placed one hand over the other, and said, "Okay, I'm doing it now!"

In a flash of light, the radio was good as new, if not better. Ed attempted to keep his pride in check, asking the bartender, "Does that take care of it?"

"This is a surprise!" said the bartender, unable to take his eyes from the radio that was magically pieced back together. "You guys can perform miraculous works?"

Ed immediately slumped over, his face incredulous at the man who seemed to know nothing of alchemy. Kaela didn't outwardly show this like Edward, but it did cause her to pause. Was there no usage of alchemy in these parts, besides the priest of Liore? And if so, that meant the priest would be passing alchemy off as "miraculous works."

While Al was, for about the hundredth time, confused for being the Fullmetal Alchemist, and Ed was royally ticked off, for about the millionth time, for being called something akin to a midget, Kaela turned the radio back on.

"So what's with the broadcast?" Ed said once he'd calmed down.

"That's Father Cornello."

Another customer said, "He appeared in this town several years ago, and preached to us the ways of God. He gives immortality to the living, and resurrection to the dead. His miraculous works are proof of it."

"'Ressurection to the dead,' huh? Sounds fishy," Ed muttered.

"So, have you ever seen the priest of this town perform these … miracles?" She asked, sitting back down.

"Ah, no! Not close up, at least." The man scratched his mustache momentarily before continuing. "But he can create flowers from rocks, and rocks to flowers. I've also heard several rumors of him being able to raise the dead."

All of those concerned Kaela, because none of them followed the law of alchemy: to create something, you must take from another of equal value.

"There's going to be an outdoor mass at the cathedral in an hour if you'd like to see it yourself," the bartender said quickly, noticing her sudden silence. Kaela instantly perked up when she heard this, nodding her head.

"Thank you so much, sir," she said taking a hold of Al's hand and Ed's upper arm. Both were startled. "For both the food and the information. We'll see you around!"

As the trio left grumbling (mainly bickering between Ed and Kaela, with Al attempting to keep the peace), the bartender shook his head as he cleared away their plates. "Today is  _definitely_  a Tuesday."

* * *

"Father Cornello!"

"Show us your miraculous works!"

Cherry blossoms rained from the sky, though sakura trees wouldn't normally be able to survive in this particular climate. An older priest, bald, maybe in his early sixties, in front of an enormous crowd took one of the flowers into his hands and brought it to his face. A red light erupted from his fists. When he removed a hand, a flower made of gems and crystal replaced the petal.

"Is that it? What do you think?" Ed asked from the top of his suitcase.

"No way around it, that metamorphic reaction is alchemy," Al said. Kaela nodded

"He's duping a lot of people," she said from her perch on Al's shoulders.

"He's ignoring equivalent exchange. The law is that only one volume of mass can come from the same volume of mass." Edward squinted at the smiling man who waved to the crowd of people.

"He's changing vegetable into mineral, too," Al added. Kaela patted his head and he lifted his arms above his head, grabbed her waist, and set her down on the ground with ease.

"Have you guys noticed what's around his finger?" She asked as she dusted herself off. "A ring, with a bright red gem fused into it. Kaela glanced between the two of them. "The light that is emitted from his alchemy is the same color."

Ed furrowed his eyebrows as he squinted even further. "How can you see that far?" Kaela only shrugged.

"Nii-san, it might be …"

"Yeah, it could be." Edward's eye's narrowed. "Bingo."

When the mass, though it was more like a magic show than anything else, ended and the church bells were ringing, the three alchemists made their way into the cathedral. The sanctuary was empty save for a lone girl praying to a stone statue as tall as the ceiling at the altar of the room. They approached her.

"O God, please grant me my wish," they heard her say when they came closer. "Please bring him-"

"Eh? So this is Leto?" Edward called from the aisle. Kaela took this opportunity to look at the statue, but nothing in particular stood out to her. All false gods look the same: regal, tall, handsome, perfect.

The girl stood, her dusty pink bangs against black striking Kaela more than the statue. "Are you interested in Letoism?"

"No, unfortunately, I'm areligious."

"Well, that won't do." The girl closed her eyes and smiled. "To believe in and worship God, and live with gratitude and hope … It's such a marvelous thing. If you believe, I'm sure you will grow taller!" The look of sincere determination on the girl's face was almost comical. Al had to hold Ed back before he could hit the poor girl. Kaela took this opportunity to sit in one of the pews and relax.

"Hey, what was that for?!"

"She didn't mean any harm." Al tried to soothe his brother. Of course, it worked. Ed plopped himself next to Kaela, more than slightly pissed, and crossed his legs and propping his elbows up onto the lip of the backrest.

"'Resurrection to the dead.' Do you truly believe that?" He asked, his tone flat as he stared up at the young woman. She closed her eyes.

"Yes."

Ed huffed out an exasperated sigh and reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a black book the size of his own gloved hand. "Water, 35 liters; carbon, 20 kilograms; ammonia, 4 liters; lime, 1.5 kilograms …"

As Ed listed off each element and their unit, Kaela noticed the confusion in the woman's eyes, causing her to snort. Whenever Ed brings up anything alchemically related or starts spouting chemical jargon, most people's faces contort into a similar form of pure bewilderment.

"... and various other stuff."

"... huh?"

Ed snapped the book shut. "That's the material makeup of a human body, calculated for one adult," he said, leaning forward and placing his elbows onto his knees. "With our science now, we that much, but there has never been one reported case of a successful human transmutation actually taking place." His face scrunched as he looked up to meet her gaze with an intensity that Kaela only ever saw when dealing with this particular subject. "Are you telling me that what can't be done by science can be done through prayer?"

"Pray in faith, and thy entreaties shall be accorded thee." The young woman countered.

"Incidentally, if you go to the market," Ed reached back and folded his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling, " you can buy all of these components with the change a small child might carry. Humans can be made cheap." He chuckled slightly. Al and Kaela shared a knowing look.

"People aren't things! Your words are blasphemy against the Creator!" she said with a steady yet scolding tone. Ed looked momentarily surprised, probably because of her consistent arguments. "You're going to incur Heaven's wrath."

He laughed. "Alchemists are scientists, you see. We don't believe in creators, God, or anything like that." He stared up at her again. "We lay bare the creative principles of this world and pursue truth. It's ironic that we scientists, who do not believe in a God, are in a sense the closest ones to being gods."

"Are you saying you're on the same level as God? Such hubris!"

By now, the devout woman was visibly furious, staring back at the younger boy at a close attempt to match the force of his gaze. But the emotion in her eyes was not the same. Yes, there was sorrow and anger, but Edward's eyes held those and something much stronger than both combined: guilt and experience.

"Hubris, huh? Now that you mention it, it was in a myth somewhere. There was a hero, who got too close to the sun, and his wings, made of hardened wax, were torn off, and he was thrust down to the earth. Am I right?" Al's eyes dimmed in their glow, and Ed closed his eyes. Kaela reached for Al's hand, which hung limply at his side near him, and squeezed it, though she was careful not to let her face betray the memories rushing before her eyes.

"Nii-san …"

With that, the mood somehow changed in a millisecond, and Ed lept to his feet from the pew, leaving a warmth next to Kaela. His manner completely spun around, and he placed a careful smile onto his face. "Miss, do you think that Leto will even save a scientist like myself who thinks what I just said?" He bowed at the waist to pull off the entire act.

The woman, noticing nothing, clasped her hands together and beamed. "Of course! He will accept your repentance at any time. Father Cornello would be happy to explain how wonderful Leto and Letoism is. Would you like to meet with him?"

"We sure would. Lead the way, miss," Ed said with a cheeky grin once she turned away. The trio followed her down the halls until arriving at a large door.

"These three would like to speak with Father Cornello, please," she said to one of the guards standing by. The guard looked at the group behind her and rose a quick brow before returning his focus to the woman.

"Names?"

"The Elric Brothers." Kaela shot a glare at Ed, to which he stuck his tongue out. She knew better, though. Just the name "Elric" could get them into most places, but, as a security measure, they didn't announce her oftentimes in case something went wrong along the way.

The guard left through the door, but not without giving Kaela one last suspicious look.

"Say, I never did ask you for your names," the young woman said cheerily, spinning around on her heel to face them. "My name is Rose."

"I'm Edward Elric." Ed grinned and placed his hands behind his head. "Ever heard of me?"

Poor Rose looked only more frazzled. "I'm sorry, but, no, I haven't."

While Kaela smacked Ed on the back of his head for his troublesome pride, Al quickly intervened. "I'm his younger brother, Alphonse."

"Younger ..?"

"And I'm Michaela Rockbell, their neighbor."

Rose smiled widely. "It's fantastic to meet you all. I'm sure Father Cornello will be pleased to meet you, too." She glanced at the door. "Speaking of which, we should be invited in any minute, now."

And just like that, the door opened. A tanned man with a harsh face and no facial hair to speak of stood in the doorway. "Come this way," he said as he lead them through the door. "The Father is quite busy and cannot make very much time, but you are in luck."

"Sorry. We'll keep this as brief as we can," Ed said with an amused expression, though from what Kaela was unsure of.

"Yes, indeed." From behind, Kaela couldn't tell what he was doing, but their guide seemed to be pulling something from his coat. Her eyes narrowed as her fingers twitched toward her hip. "Let's bring an end to this quickly."

Behind them, the door shut. At the same time that their guide pulled a gun out, Kaela was already pointing a handgun at him. However, a guard knocked the gun out of her hands and threw it to the side, bringing her arms behind her back just tight enough that it nearly ripped her arm from her socket. She winced in pain slightly as she glanced over at Ed only to find him trapped behind spears. He flashed a worried look at her.

"Assistant Pastor, what are you doing?" Rose cried.

"Rose, these people are heathens who seek to ensnare the Father. They are wicked!" The priest said, his gun never moving away from Al, who had gone stiff.

"Oh, no!" Rose said.

"As you said, let's end this quickly!" Ed interrupted, only looking more annoyed by the second. He nodded to Kaela before swiftly incapacitating the guards that blocked his path.

Kaela slammed a foot into her captor's shin, and he loosened his grip. In the split second that she was free, she brought her leg up and spun towards him, his neck making a sharp  _crack_  as her calf and his head connected.

While the assistant pastor was startled by this, Al landed his fist into the man's teeth, knocking him out cold. He let go of his gun as he slumped to the ground, Rose making a slight gasp of horror as it slid to her feet.

"Strike!" Ed shouted with a smirk as he threw a spear at one of the guards running away, knocking him out, too. Kaela could only roll her eyes.

"Such a racket!" A voice echoed through the large stone hall, surprising each of them. Father Cornello appeared from the shadows, a nonchalant smile painted on his face. "Welcome to our sacred order, Fullmetal Alchemist."

"Father Cornello!" Rose called, her expression instantly lifting.

"It looks like we had some rather disrespectful fellows here. I apologize for their rudeness."

"It's no apology, looking down on us from up there," Ed said.

"Have you come to receive our doctrine?" The priest asked, ignoring Ed's comment.

"I would like you to teach it to me, by all means. Like how you use cheap alchemy to deceive your believers." At this accusation, Rose's face fell as she looked to Edward.

Playing along, Father Cornello still smiled. "Now, what could you mean by that? I won't have you equating my miraculous works with alchemy." He proceeded to bring up his hands, a red light brightening around them. As he revealed a miniature statue of Leto, he continued, "What do you say? Can alchemy bring this about?"

"That's the thing about it. How are you able to transmute while ignoring the laws?" Ed brought a hand up to his head.

"As I said, this isn't alchemy." Father Cornello's smile was beginning to droop.

"That's when I started thinking if he were an alchemist using an enchanted amplifier of legend said to make the impossible possible, then maybe he could do that."

"You mean …"

"Yes, exactly. The Philosopher's Stone. That's what that ring of yours is, isn't it?" The more Ed spoke, the more furious he sounded. Kaela glanced at Father Cornello, whose ring was glowing faintly in the darkness. Ed's voice lowered. "I've been looking for that.

"This is just an ordinary ring. I have been permitted by God to perform miraculous works." The smile was back, but Kaela noticed its cracks and the repetitiveness of his words.

"Are you still pretending?" The young alchemist began walking toward the staircase where Father Cornello stood. "It looks like I'm just going to have to grab you, and beat it out of you."

"You appear to be quite the incorrigible heathen." The priest's voice was condescending, despite his smile disappearing. "Rose."

"Y-Yes?" Rose looked up at him, terrified.

"Pick up that gun lying on the floor there."

"Huh? Okay." She did so.

"Now shoot the Fullmetal Alchemist with it."

Kaela, Ed, and Al all whipped around to face Rose, wary of the assistant priest's pistol now in her hands, Kaela, glad for her second gun, slowly pulled it out its holster.

"No … I can't," Rose said.

"My word is God's word. This is the will of God." Shadows menacingly covered Cornello's face, a malicious smirk creeping back onto his lips. "Rose. Shoot him."

Like a puppet on strings, Rose brought the gun up to her chest, although her face and her shaking body still betrayed her feelings.

"What's wrong? When you lost your boyfriend in an accident last year, who was it that saved you from the very depths of despair?" Cornello's words brought on another gasp through her body. Kaela made her way slowly to the side of Rose, out of her peripheral vision.

"You, Father Cornello."

"That's right. I saved you. And what did I promise you?"

"That you would bring him back to life!" Rose shouted this, perhaps as motivation for herself, and pointed the gun at Al.

"Er, um, I'm not him!" Al said most likely out of force of habit. Rose looked up, dazed and glanced at Ed who was flailing in anger.

" _I'm_  the Fullmetal Alchemist, dammit!" Kaela couldn't help but roll her eyes again.

"You mean,  _you're_ the one?!" Father Cornello stepped back. This would have been almost comical if Rose wasn't ready to the state alchemist.

In all seriousness, Rose aimed the gun, this time much more steadily, at Ed. His expression became grim as he stared at the young woman. Kaela worked to reposition herself so that Rose's hands were still in her line of sight.

"I'm sorry. I have no choice but to do this."

"He's a swindler," Ed tried.

"You're wrong!" Rose exclaimed. "Father Cornello is going to bring him back with his miraculous works!"

"Then shoot."

Rose brought the gun closer to her chest, which no one should  _ever_  do. Kaela couldn't get in a good shot without harming the woman. The gun went off, and so did Al's head.

"Al!"

The gun grew farther away from Rose as she stared at her actions in horror, and Kaela took her chance. She aimed her secondary gun and fired. Rose's gun flew from her hands and landed onto the floor. But Rose didn't even notice. She stared at the headless suit of armor and screamed.

"That will do. God is pleased. Now, shoot the other one, too."

"What an awful thing to make your believer do." Al's voice echoed even more without his helmet. Ed grabbed it as Al began to stand.

"What?!" The priest yelled out.

"What is going on?" Rose asked. Kaela felt bad. This had to be the most confusing day of the young girl's life.

"Nothing to it," Ed said as if Rose should have already known. He knocked on Al's chest, the sound resonating through the suit of metal. Kael hurried over to the brothers and pulled Al's neck down so that Rose could see the inside of the armor.

"This is what's going on," Al said, pointing at the hollow blackness. Rose gasped into her hand.

Kaela let go of Al's neck guard so he could stand up straight, and Ed handed him his helm, which he promptly put on.

"An empty suit of armor! Indeed, this is proof that these people are wicked!" Cornello backed away from the edge of the staircase and moved toward to the wall. "They should be purged!" He grabbed a lever on the wall that Kaela hadn't noticed before.

Nearby, an iron gate raised to reveal eyes glowing red akin to the priest's alchemy. The hulking beast stepped forward, the head of a lion followed by the behind of a rooster and the tail of a snake.

"Is this the first time you've seen a Chimera?" Father Cornello asked, eyes sliding over to the creature with a sly glare.

Somewhat nonchalantly, Ed and Al eyed the Chimera as it separated them and Kaela. "You even made this with your Philosopher's stone?" Ed asked. "This could be trouble, taking him on unarmed." He clapped his hand and set them on the stone floor. Blue lightning crackled as a stone spear rose, leaving a semi-sphere hole where the minerals were taken from the floor. The young alchemist grabbed it once it finished.

"No transmutation circle!" Cornello stepped back, surprise crossing his face. "I guess the State Alchemist title is not just for show, then. However ..!" The Chimera roared, the cry shrill and loud. Ed moved to guard himself with the newly made weapon. The beast swatted its paw, breaking the spear's head off from the shaft and ripping part of Ed's pant leg. "Well? How do you like the taste of claws that can cut through iron?"

"Gotcha!" Ed said. The Chimera's claws proceeded to break off before its eyes. Ed kicked at the beast and it pounced away, landing in a defensive position. "Unfortunately for you, this was specially-made."

"Bite him to death!" The Chimera obeyed, bounding forward, the ground rumbling with each step it took. It managed to grab a hold of Ed's right arm. It seemed genuinely surprised when it could not bite through the appendage.

"What's wrong pussy? Get a good taste." Ed's leg shot up, kicking the lion face square in the jaw. During this, Kaela quickly made her way over to Al and Rose, who was trembling at the sight of the battle.

"Your arm…" Cornello began. "A brother who is just armor … I get it." He grinned. "So that's what's going on."

Ed whipped off his coat, shredded and torn to pieces, revealing an arm made entirely from steel and an ugly scar at the base. Kaela glanced over at Rose's completely shocked face and huffed. Sometimes her neighbor could be so dramatic.

"Fullmetal Alchemist, you went and did it, didn't you?!"

"Come on down here, third-string! Let me show you how outclassed you are!"

"Rose, these people have performed human transmutation, the greatest taboo for any alchemist! They tried to bring someone dead back to life," Father Cornello said, not noticing the mistake in his words.

Kaela, glanced over, curious. She saw the gears working in the young woman's eye and knew what she had to be thinking: Rose had been lied to. Kaela placed a hand on Rose's shoulder. "Father Cornello does not have the power to bring back your boyfriend. Not without a sacrifice," she said as soothingly as possible.

"It can't be …"

Addressing Rose, Ed flatly said, "This is what someone who trespasses in God or whoever's domain looks like. Rose, are you prepared to become like this?"

"Heh heh heh, Edward Elric, to think you became a State Alchemist like that! It's laughable" Cornello, disregarding the revelation Rose was experiencing, chuckled down at Ed. Kaela found herself glaring up at the old man. He, who had never gone through the experience, could not  _ever_  understand the pain Ed and Al had gone through. He could never know of the loneliness and dysphoria Alphonse had and still was experiencing. He would never even  _imagine_ the guilt that ran bone deep in Edward. And for those around the brothers, Cornello wouldn't even step foot where their family and friends could barely toe the line, unsure of where their boundaries were and weren't.

"Shut up. You're just a third-rate phony that can't do anything without a Philosopher's Stone," Ed yelled back.

"Father, we want you to hand over the Stone before you get hurt." Al stretched out his hands as both a peace offering and a receptacle for the Stone.

"Ridiculous! You fools, who would tread upon God's domain! This time, I will send you back to God for good!" Cornello tapped his cane onto the ring and it transformed into a large machine gun.

Just as he took aim, Ed made a wall to shield Al, Rose, Kaela, and him. Cornello's firing created a huge plume of dust, hiding the wall of stone. The priest made an audible sound of confusion.

"Nah, God probably hates me, after all," Ed said once the smoke cleared, revealing the cratered wall. "If I went there, I think he'd just turn me away." Al took this as his cue to pick up Rose and sprint for the door, Kaela leading the way. Father Cornello took aim and fired, the bullets embedding themselves into his armor.

"Al! Kaela!" Ed clapped his hands and ran after them, making a large stone door on the wall. The quartet let themselves through, knocking over several of Cornello's men dressed in white.

Father Cornello followed shortly behind, but it was too late. They had already escaped down the hall.

At the end of the corridor, they ran into a T-intersection with several of the priest's henchmen guarding the exit. They all were grinning, underestimating the group's leader.

"Stop!"

"Hey, boy, what are you going to do empty-handed?"

"Surrender before you get hurt."

Ed's face went blank before he began cackling as little kids do, clapping his hands together as his automail arm transformed into a large, serrated scythe. The men took a moment to take it in, screams of fear following soon after.

From there it was to each his own. Kaela punched a few to the floor, sticking to roundhousing and dropkicking once her knuckles began bruising. How annoying. Now she would have to heal them later.

Al muscled (or would it be metaled?) his way through, creating a path for Ed and Kaela to follow and leaving a trail of bodies behind them.

* * *

Later, near the bell tower of the cathedral, Alphonse, Michaela, and Rose sat waiting for Edward to make his way to the priest's office.

"Do you see now, Rose?" Al asked quietly as he set down one of the church bells he had wrenched down from the bell tower, a cord connected to it running into the cathedral. Behind him, Kaela worked tirelessly picking out the bullets from his armor with tweezers. "Cornello shot at us, even though you were there."

"That was because you were … Is it true what he said back there?" Rose stood in front of them, clutching her chest.

Al paused. "All we wanted to do was see our mom's smiling face again." He stared up at her before continuing his work, drawing the transmutation circle around the bell. "But our transmutation failed. It didn't even have human form."

Rose sucked in a breath as the wind brushed back her hair.

"They didn't fail because they messed up. The ingredients were correct, they followed all the right rituals," Kaela added from behind Al, working at one particular bullet that was a little stubborn with tweezers. She pulled it out with a grunt. "Ed was and is the smartest person I know, even at eleven years old. Even though most of the time he acts like a prideful doofus, he studied his father's alchemy books harder than Al and I combined."

"You helped them?"

Kaela looked up, hesitating. "I did. And I should have done more."

Rose didn't comment any further on that. "... Then, what went wrong?"

"We were made to realize our mistake," Al said in a low, hollow voice. "People do not come back from the dead. Even our mom."

"That can't be true. But-"

"The basis of alchemy is equivalent exchange. The price of our human transmutation was enormous. Nii-san's left leg and my whole body were taken away." He stopped his work and removed his helmet, exposing the seal on the neck of the armor. "Do you see it? Nii-san drew it with his own blood. His left leg had been taken away. He had to have been in pain. But, Nii-san transmuted my soul in exchange for his right arm and bonded me to this suit of armor."

Al replaced the helm back into the groove of the neck guard. He resumed his work once again. "I want to restore Nii-san's body back to the way it was. He wants to get me back to normal, too. We might even lose our lives as a result. That's the karmic nature of the path we chose."

"But, Father Cornello can-"

"Rose?"

"Father Cornello can do it, even if you weren't able to. He can!" Tears leaked from her eyes as she desperately tried to convince herself. Kaela sighed as something buzzed in her ear.

"It's okay, Al. She's been believing a lie all this time, so it's going to be hard switching mindsets. Ed just gave me the signal, though." Kaela patted Al's armor, even though she knew he couldn't feel it. She looked up at the crying woman, dressed in an innocent white. "She will receive some concrete evidence soon enough."

"... Okay." Al nodded and clapped his hands, palm over the other. The huge bell transmuted into an enormous speak, to which Al pressed a switch and slung it over his shoulder.

" _... Is this thing on?_ " Ed's voice boomed into the city.

"What are you doing?" Rose asked, nervously fingering the neckline of her dress. Kaela pressed her index finger to her lips as she buzzed Ed twice, letting him know that they heard him loud and clear.

A minute later, the sound of a door creaking open could be heard through the speaker. The city was silent.

" _Kid!_ " Came Father Cornello's voice. " _Say your prayers!_ "

" _Mister, let's speak frankly here. I just want to know the secrets of that Stone. Or should I request that the military is called in to investigate the Stone?_ " Ed's voice sounded loud and clear, mocking and all.

Cornello growled, but the door was heard creaking shut. " _Very well._ "

" _What are you trying to do with the Philosopher's Stone? If you have it, you don't need any rinky-dink religious order, right?_ "

" _The order would gladly give their lives for my sake and provides me with more believers! They will be the ultimate legion, not even afraid to die, just you watch!_ "

Kaela facepalmed, wondering how blind, (literally,  _how blind?_ ) could this man be?

" _In just a few more years, I'm going to set out to rip this country apart, using the Philosopher's Stone and my idiotic believers! I'll even share the leftovers with you! Ah-hahaha!_ "

Ed's cackle interrupted Cornello's manic laughter.

" _What's so funny?_ " Cornello demanded.

" _As I said before, you're third-string._ "

A few moments later, Cornello's voice rang out loudly across the city. " _It-It can't be…!"_

"There are no miraculous works," Al said from his position from the railing. "It was all done with the power of the Philosopher's Stone."

" _Why you …! When did you flip that switch?"_

" _Right at the start. It's all out of the bag now._ "

" _How could you do that?! You little brat!_ " The ringing sounds of alchemy could be heard over the speaker.

" _Too slow!_ " Ed yelled, the microphone picking up his incoming footsteps. There was a loud crash and the sound of metal slicing metal. " _As I said, you're outclassed._ "

" _I am without rival!"_ More ringing. However…

" _R-Rebound!"_

" _I-I'm not giving up yet! I am … I am … the Emissary of God!_ " Cornello's voice distorted toward the end, just before the sound cut from the speakers.

"Nii-san!" Alphonse hurriedly set down the speaker, making to take off down the bell tower before Kaela placed a hand on one of his pauldrons. She shook her head.

"Let's trust Ed. I'm sure this priest is nothing he can't handle. After all, he experienced some rebound, from the sound of it," she said reassuringly. Al paused before nodding. "Although, that bit at the end somewhat worries me. So let's make our way down to the sanctuary. Calmly."

They left Rose in the tower's balcony. She had fallen to her knees, her hands covering her ears. Kaela looked back only once before descending the stairs.

Al and Kaela found the Fullmetal Alchemist spacing out in the midst of large pieces of rubble. The sanctuary was utterly destroyed, and Cornello was nowhere to be found. Al placed a hand on his brother's shoulder, and Ed turned to face the two.

"What happened?" Al asked, worry in his eyes. But Ed simply sighed and gave him a small, tired smile.

"Let's get out of here before we get in trouble."

Once they were outside, Al stepped in front of his older brother. "What happened?"

Ed shrugged. "Cornello ran away after I beat him up. Nothing too exciting."

The sunset painted the sky yellow, orange, pink, and finally, where it rested overhead, a dull purple. Only a few stars came out from their hiding places, afraid of the sun's light. The city below was overlayed with a mixture between orange and brown, the color somewhat somber instead of the initial guess that it was a happier, lighter tone. Al gazed at this scene before continuing.

"What about the Philosopher's Stone?"

"I was just a big knock-off."

"I see."

Ed rapped a fist onto his brother's cuirass. He said tiredly, regretfully, "I thought we were finally going to get you your body back, too."

Kaela reached out to place a hand on his back, though she hesitated. It wasn't as easy to comfort Ed as it was Al.

Just before her fingers touched his bare shoulder, a familiar, shaky voice called out. "Give me the Philosopher's Stone!"

The three turned to see Rose with Kaela's primary gun pointed at them, her hands quivering and her expression not quite as determined as one would suppose it would be, considering her actions and her motive.

"Rose …"

"I said it was just a big knock-off," Ed stated. "What's more, it broke all on its own."

Kaela watched cautiously as Rose's face became even more shattered than before. Rose was a happy woman, someone who normally would never even think to touch a gun, let alone point it at someone. But today had not been a normal day for her, and Rose's mindset was nowhere near in order. One wrong step here and Ed and Kaela could die.

"Liar! You want to keep it all for yourself, don't you? For your bodies- yeah, and to use it on your mother one more time."

Edward snapped. "Shut up! Dead people do not come back to life! Ever!" There is was again. The guilt and shame, hidden behind a mask of anger. It seemed to Kaela, though, that the mask was cracking.

Kaela felt the anger, too, at what Rose had not carefully chosen to say. However, the feelings of wanting to keep them both from killing each other because of derailed feelings kept her feet planted.

This time, her hand did connect with Ed's shoulder. He glanced at her, surprise conflicting with the pain. Kaela had always only comforted Ed through words, believing he didn't crave the physical contact that Al had always welcomed. Kaela was shocked by her actions, too.

Still, she kept going, giving him a slight squeeze to let him know she was there. Ed didn't react beyond his surprise, though Kaela thought she saw the regret so obviously masked by anger ebb away.

Rose had fallen to her knees. "He said he would come back," she said, no longer pointing Kaela's gun at them and no longer posing a threat. "He said if I prayed, it would come true. That a miracle would happen."

The three walked forward, away from the cathedral and toward the setting sun. More stars poked out, and the purple sky began to deepen.

"What am I supposed to live my life clinging to now?! Tell me!"

Ed first walked past her, then Al. Ed stopped as Al continued down the steps, his face grim. "You have to figure that out yourself. Stand up and walk. Move forward. You've got two fine legs there, don't you? You don't need to cling to anything."

Rose looked up at the sky. Finally, Kaela passed by, stopping just in front of the young woman and crouching down. She said nothing as she placed a calming hand on Rose's head, caressing it softly as Kaela took the gun gently from her hands. Kaela stood, her hand still on Rose's head.

Rose looked at her with tear streaked eyes. Kaela smiled. "You'll be alright from now on, Rose. You don't need to find something or someone to live for. You just need to live for  _yourself_ , now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It never fails to amaze me how many emotionally compelling quotes can be found in FMA. I really loved Ed's words at the end. They don't necessarily apply only to Rose, but also to the audience. It's like he's encouraging us!
> 
> Or maybe I'm just crazy and love Ed too much.
> 
> Either way, thank you so much for reading!


	3. An Alchemist's Anguish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the dark secrets of Chimera transmutations are revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Early update! Also ... two chapters?! What?! I guess I just had a lot of time on my hands this weekend. Aaand I was ready to get these two chapters over with because they make me sad. Hopefully, they don't seem too rushed.

* * *

An Alchemist's Anguish

* * *

The corridors in the military's headquarters in Amestris were long and cold, oftentimes with no one occupying them. The Elrics and Kaela walked leisurely down the hall, no specific destination in mind. Kaela walked behind Ed, keeping Al in her peripheral vision so that she wouldn't stray from the path while reading the  _Daily Amestris_.

"They're saying there's a murderer in the loose," she announced, her eyes scouring the article. "The victims are almost exclusively state alchemists."

This caught both boys' attention. Ed turned his head slightly, peering at Kaela out of the corner of his eye. "What?"

"The Iron Blood Alchemist was killed last night while he was on his way home from work. It's saying that works of his alchemy were spread all over an alleyway, with a large box of metal sitting in the middle, most likely used to contain the perpetrator." She paused before pointing at the paper. "There's a picture of it here."

Ed trailed back so that all three were looking over her shoulder at the newspaper. His eyes widened when he saw the large hole the size of a horse in the center of the box.

"The Iron Blood Alchemist …," Al said, pinching his chin with his thumb and the knuckle of his index finger. "Wasn't that Basque Grand?"

"Yeah!" Ed exclaimed, still staring at the article. "He is- was one tough alchemist."

"You'd know, wouldn't you?" Kaela shot him a teasing glare. "You challenged him to a fight  _at least_  three times with the reason being you wanted to find out whose metal was stronger."

"We put up a good fight, right?"

"Oh, of course! You only landed on your face three out of the three times you sparred with each other." While Ed grumbled atrocities about her, Kaela read the rest of the article. "Well, it must have been really shady, because the Fuhrer showed up while Maes Hughes was investigating the scene."

"Lieutenant Colonel Maes Hughes is in charge?" Al asked. They hadn't met the man, but Mustang complained about him all too often.

"Yep. Not to mention Lieutenant Armstrong."

They arrived at an open door, to which they noticed Riza Hawkeye and Mustang's subordinates. Unanimously, they silently decided to head inside.

"Master Sergeant Fuery, how is the radio coming?" Riza asked, not even glancing up from her work when the trio stepped into the room.

The small, bespectacled man was turning knobs frantically, nerves and anxiety practically oozing from his skin. He looked up at his superior. "The receiver has had it. I'll have to change out the part."

Ed clapped and laid a hand on the radio, the blue light reflecting onto the master sergeant's glasses. When Ed removed his gloved hand, the radio was as good as new. Fuery 'oh'ed before looking up to see the grinning boy.

"Edward! Alphonse! Michaela!" He said happily.

"Welcome back, you three," Riza said, sending a small smile their way. "The Colonel is expecting you." Ed's face dropped in disgust at the mention of his superior officer's name.

"Let's hurry over then," Kaela said. "It was nice seeing everyone before we get assigned another job!" She beamed at everyone's smiles as she managed to drag Ed by the scruff, their waves and smiles imprinted in her memory before she shut the door.

"I don't wanna go see the Colonel," Ed whined. Kaela shot him a look and he cowered behind Al, afraid of the possibility of getting scolded. Though not related by blood, Kaela and Winry were alike in a lot of ways, and that included the fact that they were scary when they were reprimanding the brothers, each in their own way. Winry tended to get violent, whereas Kaela would use more underhanded tactics, like verbally beating his soul out of his body, or worse: the silent treatment.

"We were going to have to go see the Colonel, anyway, Nii-san," Al said quickly. Though he loved his brother very much, he would rather appease the girl's wrath than side with Ed.

Kaela sighed as she walked ahead of them, leaving her feet on autopilot. They had gone to Mustang's office about a quarter of a billion times by now, so she had memorized the path from every room in the building. "I don't exactly want to meet with him, either. He's a bit too greasy for my taste." She grimaced at the thought of him, remembering the last time he had seen her he had winked at her four times and kissed her hand twice. "The rumors of him being a womanizer live up to his name, despite how serious he is about his work."

When they arrived at the office, Colonel Roy Mustang immediately offered them a seat. His eyes lingered on each of them before beginning to speak.

"The Liore case was handled well, thanks to you," he began, his calm yet underlyingly proud tone just as Kaela remembered. "Let me convey my gratitude."

"No big deal," Ed said, resting his chin on his hand. "We didn't do it for you." Al and Kaela exchanged a quick look before she sighed, exasperated.

"Thank you, Colonel. We were obligated to do it," Kaela said quickly in hopes that would neutralize Edward's rude words, though she knew Mustang didn't really care about Ed's attitude either way. He had gotten used to it over the years, and nothing had changed since they had first met. Kaela at this point just wanted to keep up appearances.

Mustang nodded to her. "So, this Philosopher's Stone was a dud, too?" The trio perked up, including Ed.

Slowly, he nodded. "The Stone was a fake," he said, pinching his chin, "but its power, at least, was incredible. It created that huge Chimera, after all."

"I wonder how he used the Stone to do something like that." Al's words caught the Colonel's attention. "We're not very familiar with the field of live transmutation, so we don't understand it all that well."

"What about you, Kaela? Don't you use alchemy on living things?" Mustang asked, moving his focus to her.

She scrunched her eyebrows together and shook her head. "I can't figure it out. Beyond the basics, my skills lie more in closing wounds, stopping internal bleeding, and healing bones. I'm more of a "quick-fix" doctor than a surgeon of that nature."

"It would be interesting if we looked into it. It might come in handy for us getting our bodies back," Ed said, turning to his brother. Mustang nodded and began rifling through his desk.

"In that case, why don't you get help from a specialist?" he asked, pulling out a file. "The Sewing-Life Alchemist, Shou Tucker. He's a researcher, dealing with Chimera transmutation. I'll introduce you to him."

"You'd go to all that trouble, Colonel?" Al asked in disbelief.

Ed shot up and pointed an accusing finger at the man behind the desk. "He's up to something! He's definitely up to something!"

Mustang slammed his hands on his desk, frustrated. "Don't be so suspicious of me! After the Liore case, this makes us even." He turned his head to the side, uttering under his breath, "Being indebted to you would be repulsive."

"Okay, thank you, Mustang, we'll be leaving now," Kaela said hurriedly as she began pulling at Ed's arm to leave.

The Colonel's eyes landed on her again, this time smirk creeping onto his face. "I see you've started to drop my title,  _sweetheart_. Trying to get closer to me, eh?"

Though she knew that he was aware of her only being fourteen and Mustang didn't mean anything sincere by it, at least not in that way, Kaela was still grossed out. She just kept reminding herself that it was all just to get a rise out of her.

"It was a slip of the tongue, sir. I'll try not to make it a habit." Kaela nearly gagged.

"You can use my first name if you'd like."

Ed began to pull at her grip, ready to charge Mustang. Kaela realized that they would be better off leaving. "No, thank you, Colonel Mustang," she grunted, dragging Ed through the doorway with the help of Al. "Thank you for the information. We'll see you tomorrow."

"It was lovely seeing you again, Miss Michaela Rockbell. Oh, and I guess the Elric Brothers, too-"

Kaela slammed the door shut.

* * *

On the way to Shou Tucker's residence, Kaela was forced to sit next to Mustang in the car due to Alphonse's size. She did her best to fuse to the opposite door. Mustang chuckled at her actions.

She focused on the fact that she was riding in a car, something they didn't get to do often because of, once again, Al's size. Most times they had to stick to train, boat, or foot if they needed to travel somewhere. But cars, cars were a luxury that Mustang was able to use often.

Most of the cars were a Ford model of some sort, the Colonel's, in particular, being a Ford Model A. The black paint suited his personality, with uncomfortable, deep maroon seat cushions to match. The boxy shape of the vehicle was all too similar to the others racing down the street, pedestrians and motorists alike unwittingly passing an authorized military vehicle.

"Two years ago, Tucker successfully transmuted a Chimera that could understand human speech," he said, turning serious. "This earned him the qualification of State Alchemist."

"Understand human speech?" Ed asked dubiously. "You mean, it talks? A Chimera?" He leaned forward, completely enthralled.

"Yeah, supposedly, it spoke." Mustang glanced down at his clipboard. "It said just one thing: 'I want to die.'" Kaela turned to him, her interest piquing too. "After that, it refused to eat anything, and died."

The car pulled up to a rather large house, the iron-barred gate already opened. The house was two stories tall and five windows long, separated into three sections: white stucco, brick, and then white stucco again. When the four of them stepped up to the front entrance, Mustang rang the doorbell on the outer brick wall.

"What a huge house," Ed said, tilting back to peer up at the second story. A large shadow passed over him.

Moments later, a massive white dog larger than both Kaela and Ed had crushed the young alchemist under its enormous body.

"Nii-san!"

"Look on the bright side, Ed," Kaela said, crouching down next to him, a cheeky grin plastered onto her face. "If you were any taller, it would have hurt more."

He only had the strength to glare up at her.

"Wah!" Kaela turned to see a small girl with long braids pushing open the front door, her smile wide and contagious. "Lots of visitors!"

"Nina," a middle-aged, haggard man came up behind the little girl. "You have to keep the dog tied up."

The man invited all four into the house, while Nina and her dog stayed outside to play. The house was covered in dust, books scattered everywhere in stacks, spiderwebs connecting the wooden walls and floors together, and the dishes looked like they hadn't been done for weeks.

"Ah, sorry about this," the man, whom Kaela guessed to be Shou Tucker, said. "Ever since my wife ran out on me, the house has been like this." They sat down at a small dining table with a window overlooking the street allowing light inside, each with a cup of tea in front of them. Kaela took a sip and had to force herself not to look disgusted. Lukewarm tea was the worst.

"Once again, it's a pleasure to meet you, Edward. I'm the Sewing-Life Alchemist, Shou Tucker."

"He is interested in transmuting living things," Mustang said, gesturing to the young man next to him. Kaela still didn't understand why Mustang had sat between her and the brothers, but she was thankful that he did so. Now she could examine Tucker without him fully noticing, being out of his vision's focus. "He says he would love to have a look at your research."

"Sure, I don't mind. However … If you want to see what I have up my sleeve, I'll have to see what you've got up yours." Kaela's eyes narrowed. Tucker's last sentence hadn't a lot of emotion behind it, as if he was careful to keep his emotions in check. He had something to hide. Tucker noticed the guarded mask Ed was beginning to put up and continued. "That's what it is to be an alchemist. Why are you interested in transmuting living things?"

For once, the Colonel looked caught off guard. "Oh, uh, he's …"

"Colonel." Ed held up a hand. He then proceeded to take off his black jacket and gloves, leaving him only in a loose, navy, sleeveless shirt, his automail arm being exposed. As he did this, he told Tucker his and Al's story.

"You transmuted your mother? An eleven-year-old child?" Tucker stared at the metal arm. "I see. So that's why you're the 'Fullmetal Alchemist.'" He sagged with pity. "You've had a bitter experience, huh?"

Ed plopped down in his seat, neither he nor Al saying anything.

"And you," he turned to Kaela, "Who are you?"

"Uh, I'm …"

"This is Michaela Rockbell. She is a close friend of the Elrics and primarily focuses on healing alchemy." Kaela sent Mustang a grateful look, who simply nodded.

"The Rockbells? Are you, by any chance, the daughter of Yuriy and Sarah Rockbell?" Tucker leaned forward, captivated all of the sudden.

"Yes."

"Oh, my." He whispered, leaning back. A glint passed over his glasses. "I'm so sorry for what happened to them. The Ishivalan War seems to not even have mercy to the youngest of us."

Kaela leaned back in her seat, silent. She really didn't want to talk about how she had lost three sets of parents, two of which weren't even related by blood.

It was silent for a few moments longer until Tucker stood from his seat. "I don't know if it will be of any use to you or not, but why don't you have a look at my laboratory?"

* * *

Strange animals that were fused together until one couldn't see the individual species anymore clawed at the bars, their teeth dripping with drool and blood. Rows and rows of jars contained the body parts of a multitude of animals, each labeled in high detail. Kaela glanced at Tucker. He was a thorough man or an obsessed one.

"Oh, how embarrassing. I'm popularly regarded as some authority on Chimeras, but, the truth is, it hasn't been going very well," Tucker said.

The Chimeras in the cages were very strange. Kaela saw a Doberman with three heads and a ready bite. There was a monkey merged with a bird's wings, flapping them nervously everytime someone, namely Tucker came near. The Chimeras seemed dangerous at first glance, but the closer Kaela got, they just seemed apprehensive of the newcomers if anything.

Well, Kaela thought, I'd be pretty wary if I was trapped in a cage and stared at like a circus freak.

Ed and Al scoured the room, excited by all the different jars and animals, but Kaela had to drag them away. Nothing in this room would allow them to understand the makings of a Chimera. Instead, Tucker led them to another double-doored room. After opening the door, the activation of the lights revealed a massive personal library.

"Oh, incredible!" Ed shouted, already making his way into the room.

"This is my materials room. Feel free to look around," Tucker said with a tired, yet kind smile.

"Alright. I'll start with this shelf," Ed called from somewhere in the library. Al had disappeared from Kaela's side, his helmet just barely visible over the edge of the bookshelves.

"Then I'll start over there," Al replied.

"I'm going back to work. I'll send someone by for you this evening," Mustang said, but Edward never answered him, already absorbed in his book. Mustang snorted slightly, placing a hand on his hip.

"They have incredible focus, don't they?" Tucker asked rhetorically. "They've already shut out the voices around them." He pushed his glasses up, causing another glint. "There  _are_  prodigies out there, huh?"

Mustang turned to Kaela, a smile practically dripping in grease transforming his face, causing her to step back. "I'll be seeing you around, Michaela."

"Oh, I'm sure it won't be for a while, Colonel." Kaela cringed.

"Then," he swiftly took her hand, and said more loudly, "Let me kiss you good-bye."

"Get the hell out of here, Colonel!" Ed angry face appeared in the central aisle, glaring at the two. "You're distracting."

"I'll be leaving shortly," Mustang said with a grin. He kissed the back of Kaela's hand, his eyes darting at Ed.

When he left, Kaela realized that the Colonel was simply having fun with the situation, that he was trying to get a rise from  _Ed_ , not her. Kaela didn't have the slightest idea of how he had picked this tactic to annoy his subordinate, but it was working. Every time Mustang flirted with her, Ed would get somewhat angry, even when he was focused on something else, like just now.

Kaela grinned. Although she wouldn't have even  _thought_  this prior to her earlier conclusion, she wanted to have a little fun and piss off Ed. In the future, she would have to play along.

Just as she took a step toward the depths of the library, Tucker placed a hand on her shoulder. He smiled down at her. "If I remember correctly, you are interested in healing alchemy, yes?"

"Actually, I am," she replied, a little surprised.

"Then, let me show you this section … over here …" he trailed off, leading her to one of the bookshelves toward the front. Kaela gave Alphonse a small wave when she saw him through the books, and he returned it, smiling through his glowing eyes.

There were books that Kaela had already read in the Elrics' father's study, but there were some that she hadn't even seen before. Some were even from the country of Xing! She turned to Tucker, beaming like the sun. "Thank you so much!"

"Anytime."

It was a few hours later when Kaela felt a small tug on her forest green sweater. Startled, she looked down. Nina, Tucker's daughter, was hesitantly but firmly gripping the fabric, a look of determination in her eye. Kaela rested the book she had been reading on bone mending on top of the other books and crouched down to Nina's eye level.

"Hey, kiddo," she said with a smile. "What's up?"

"Do… do you want to play?" She managed out, nervous to talk to strangers, but excited as well. Kaela glanced at the shelves of books, contemplating. Deciding they could always come here another day, she nodded.

"Okay. But first, let's get someone else to play with us."

"But Alexander is ready to play, too!"

"Alexander?"

"My dog!" Ah, yes. The giant of a dog that could crush both Kaela and Ed. Gotcha.

"Well, your dog  _is_ really big, but do you want to play with someone bigger?" Nina nodded anxiously. Kaela led her through the side aisle until she found a certain suit of armor attentive to a book that looked tiny in his grasp.

Nina peaked around the corner to gaze up at him. Out of the corner of his eye, Al noticed Kaela standing there and Nina hiding from him. When she realized that the strange man could see her, Nina gasped and hid behind the shelf again, before slowly reappearing. Kaela couldn't hide her smile. Nina grinned at Al widely.

And that was how Ed found Nina on Al's shoulders as he jumped up and down, and Kaela standing off to the side, leaning against the shelves. "Way up high!" Al cried gleefully as Nina giggled in bliss. "Way up high!"

"Al! What are you doing?!" Ed yelled in irritation.

Al did his best to look innocent. "Nina looked like she wanted to play."

"Do  _you_  want to play, Ed?" Kaela said with a smirk. Edward only shot them both equally chiding glares.

"Hey, what do you think we are he to do?" A shadow encompassed him, preventing him from speaking further as Alexander landed on top of him with a "boof!"

Both Al and Kaela crouched down while the dog licked Ed as if to apologize. Nina smiled. "Alexander says he wants to play, too!"

Ed chuckled darkly. "You've got some nerve." He stood slowly, being dramatic as usual, Alexander wagging his tail blissfully behind the tragic hero. "They say that a lion uses all of his strength to hunt even a rabbit. So I," Ed stood up and clenched his fists, looking comical if nothing else, "Edward Elric, will use my whole body and soul to take you on, you beast of a dog!"

With that declaration, Ed scrambled after the dog, who had enough sense to run away. Nina simply giggled whilst Al and Kaela exchanged exasperated looks in response to their melodramatic partner-in-crime.

When Jean Havoc strolled in calling out "Hey chief, I'm here to pick you up," he probably wasn't expecting a massive dog and a little girl to have taken out to great Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric. "What are you doing?" He asked with every ounce of disappointment possible.

Ed, on the other hand, had given up once the dog had made his fifth landing on Ed's back, and he had been laying there for the past twenty minutes. But Havoc wasn't going to know the details. "Oh, you might call it a breather from searching through data."

"We were taking a small break," Kaela said with a smile at the young man with an unlit cigarette between his lips. Havoc only rolled his eyes, knowing from the toothy crack in her face that Kaela had somehow managed to rope Ed into getting humiliated in front of his subordinate. Again.

Tucker seemed fairly unfazed. "Did you find any good material?" He asked as Ed stood, unable to look either man in the eye. He chuckled when Ed could only grin and glare at the dog. "Come on by tomorrow, too."

Nina whipped around to face Al, him being her favorite. "You're going to come again?"

Al, seemingly enjoying her company, waved and said, "Let's play more tomorrow, okay, Nina?" The little girl made a noise of happy confirmation.

The four, including Havoc, left the house. Ed didn't even look back, visibly worn out with slumped shoulders and trudging feet. Before leaving the property, Havoc turned around while Tucker was still in the doorway. "Ah, Mr Tucker. I have a message from the Colonel. He says 'Don't forget, Assessment Day is coming soon.'"

"Yes, I know," Tucker said, though his voice sounded unsteady.

"Well, then." Havoc turned around, following the trio out the gate. Kaela didn't miss, however, the strange glint in Tucker's eyes that kept reappearing, unsettling her stomach until they made it back to headquarters, where they headed to the room that had been given to them to stay in whenever they were in Amestris.

Ed stripped out of his overcoat, jacket, and slacks the moment Kaela entered the bathroom, leaving him in just his sleeveless shirt and his boxers. When she came out, she had only removed her sweater, still wearing her white button down and skinnier dress pants. Al … well, Al stayed in his armor.

Kaela made her way to the bed she had called dibs on years ago. Ed had already fallen asleep, 'tuckered' out from the day's events. She chuckled at the pun she made inside her head. As she sat down, she watched as Al gently removed Ed's hand from under his shirt and pulled it down so that his belly was no longer exposed.

Her intent gaze must have reached his senses because he looked up, a question in the dim, lavender glow of his eyes: "What is it, Kaela?" She pursed her lips and patted the bed.

Al nimbly walked around the beds and sat next to her, watching, listening, waiting until she was ready. This was why she had waited until Ed was asleep; Al was by far the easier brother to talk to. Understanding, patient, and calm. All traits that Edward didn't possess on a regular day. Kaela took a deep breath.

"What do you think of the Tuckers?"

Surprised by the simple question, Al replied slowly, "I think Mr Tucker is very nice. And Nina is really cute. It was fun playing with her."

"You didn't notice anything off?"

"With Nina?"

"No. I mean, with Shou Tucker. There wasn't anything he said, or maybe how he said something, that threw you off, by any chance?" Her eyes were piercing, desperate. But she just wasn't sure why.

Al knew, though, why she got like this. After  _the incident_ , Kaela had become more observant, more questioning, cautious with every move, careful with every word. She was scared that something would happen again and that she wouldn't be able to stop it. So, Al talked things through with her, helped her become less analytical and more rational. Most times, there was nothing to be worried about. But on the off chance that her hunches were correct …

"What do you mean, Kaela? What did you hear?" Al kept his voice calm so that she wouldn't startle. If their conversation became too loud, they would wake Edward. Kaela didn't confide anything in the older brother, and, though Al knew it bothered his brother, it was probably for the best. Ed would dismiss her feelings and make her feel trapped in her own mind, in her inability to help someone.

Maybe now that they were older, that they were closer, that Ed was more mature and Kaela was less leery, the eldest Elric would be more understanding. But Al knew that Kaela's frame of mind wasn't strong enough to take the chance. Despite her sardonic, mothering front, she was still a scared ten-year-old back in the basement watching one of her best friends bleed to death from his leg.

"I'm not sure what set me off, but," her brows knit, "there was something about his tone, sometimes. How it was flat, and kind of distant. It was like a mask that sometimes peeled away before he smoothed it back on his face." Kaela chuckled slightly. "What a vivid allegory."

Al contemplated this for a minute. He hadn't exactly noticed anything off, but then again, he wasn't as watchful of the situation as he knew Kaela was. He had seen her steel gray eyes boring into Tucker's soul as he and Ed talked at the dinner table. "I didn't catch anything like that. But I believe you."

She exhaled heavily, even though she was already aware Al would understand. It was just nice to voice her feelings and have someone know how to respond to them. She looked up at him. "Thank you, Al."

He smiled in the way only he could and ruffled her raven locks. "Get some sleep, Kaela. In the morning, I'll pay closer attention."

"Okay. Night-night."

"Goodnight."

* * *

The better part of the morning was spent yelling at Ed to get out of the shower and then drying his hair once he finished. Still just in his navy shirt and slacks, Kaela could only sigh as she massaged the towel on his head while he yawned, bleary-eyed.

"We need to hurry, Ed," she chastised, her lips forming a firm line. "You should have been out of the bathroom twenty minutes ago."

"Whatever. It's fine now, right? We have plenty of time to go through the rest of the library." Ed sighed contentedly while Kaela squeezed smaller sections of hair. Nearby, Al chuckled. If someone who hadn't known the two as long as Al saw them interact like that, they would assume that they hated each other. However, it was clear to him, the Rockbells, and, surprisingly, Colonel Mustang: their bond was one that couldn't be severed.

While Ed hummed as Kaela threaded her fingers through his golden hair, the girl muttered things like, "someday, I'm going to cut your hair," and "we're going to be late for the apocalypse itself." But really, mornings like this were uncommon, and Kaela loved them. She missed how it used to be when stress wasn't a constant companion and she could simply be best friends with the Elrics, not their doctor or their sniper.

Edward loved it too. He had never liked sleeping in the streets, Kaela and he huddled awkwardly and irritatingly close (it was mostly just annoying when the two bickered back and forth while they fought over the blanket) when their surroundings got too cold due to winter or simply the regional climate. Sleeping in his own bed, taking a hot shower, allowing (forcing) Kaela to deal with his hair, pretending that he and his brother were living a nice life.

Al perhaps loved it the most, but more or less for selfless reasons. He also didn't like to see when Ed and Kaela suffered because of the conditions outside Resembool and the capital. They had the money for hotels, but most hotels didn't accept the likes of the three. Although he couldn't sleep, watching Kaela and Ed's steady breaths, the two people he loved most in the world, made him feel at peace as he guarded their slumber.

Finally, Kaela managed to untangle his still slightly damp hair, and braid it. "Okay, get your clothes on, you weirdo. Al and I have been ready for an hour."

"Not fair. Al doesn't wear clothes, and you slept in yours!"

"I slept in mine because I knew you would be taking up the bathroom in the morning," Kaela retorted, rolling her eyes. "I cleaned them last night with alchemy, so they're fresh. You're worse than a teenage girl, sometimes."

She shoved him out the door before he could respond, meeting up with Havoc standing outside their doorway, mid-yawn. "I was just about to knock," he said. "I've been waiting here for at least half an hour.

Kaela scoffed. "Tell me about it."

When they arrived back at the Tucker household, Nina hung around while they researched more about Chimeras.

"Your mother left you two years ago?" Al asked, looking up from his book.

"Dad said that she went back to her parents' house," Nina said this as if she was used to it. Kaela's heart clenched. She knew Nina wasn't.

"I see. It must be lonesome, with just you and your father living by yourselves in this big house," Al said.

"Mm-mmm," she said, shaking her head. "It's fine. Dad is nice to me, and I have Alexander, too!" She hugged her dog's large head, and Alexander whined in response with a few wags of his tail. Suddenly, her expression dropped. "But lately, Dad has been in his lab all this time. I am a little bit lonely."

The brothers stared at the little girl for a moment, similar memories going through their minds. Ed shut his book and stood up, exaggeratedly stretching. "Aah, my shoulders are stiff."

"You should get a little exercise, Nii-san." Kaela stood up as Al said this, a smile forming on her face.

"That's a good idea. Hey, dog!" Ed challenged, pointing at Alexander, who immediately perked up with a "boof!" "Come exercise with me!"

"Come on, Nina, you too," Al said as Kaela lifted her onto her shoulders. Nina paused before smiling her contagious smile.

Once again, Kaela wondered how Havoc would react if he came to pick them up now. At the moment, Al was watching Ed being chase by Nina riding Alexander. Kaela stood off to the side, chuckling when Ed switched to the offense, transmuting his mechanical arm into a child's claw toy, and chased them while he snapped the contraption open and shut. Nina slid down Al's back like a slide while Alexander managed to sneak attack Ed and drop onto him from seemingly out of nowhere

It was nice, seeing Al and Ed play. It had been a while since either of them had any real, childish fun. Edward was always too busy trying to find the Philosopher's Stone, and Alphonse was too busy making sure Ed didn't dig himself too deep. Nina's joy was a force itself, too. Her laughter resounded in Kaela's heart, stirring a memory that Kaela didn't know existed.

"Onee-chan! Come to play!" Nina called from Alexander's back. Kaela jogged over, unsure why it was  _her_  being asked for.

"What are we playing?" She asked, squatting down. Nina's mischevious glint worried her.

"Tag!" Nina sidled herself up to Kaela, slowly inching closer. Out of nowhere, Nina reached out and lightly smacked her leg and took off running. The brothers immediately understood what had just happened and split off in different directions. "You're it!"

Kaela grinned before sprinting after Nina, the innocence of childhood revitalized, if only for the moment.

* * *

"Our life before my earning state certification was terrible." Most of the day had been spent playing with Nina and Alexander, who was now taking a nap on the floor while Nina petted him. The Elrics and Kaela sat at the dining table as the light of the sunset streamed in, listening to Shou Tucker while they waited for Havoc. "We were so poor. My wife couldn't put up with living like that, so she left us. I have to pass this assessment, no matter what. I don't ever want to go back to those days again."

"It's going to okay, Dad! If they tell you no, then I and Alexander will get mad at the important people for you!"

While Alphonse laughed at her threats, Kaela couldn't help but watch man's face stay passive until the Elrics turned their focus back onto him.

"Nina, do you want to play with Dad tomorrow?" He asked, the corners of his lips turning upward. Nina whirled around, stars in her eyes.

"Really?!"

"Yeah."

"Hooray!" She exclaimed as she flung herself onto her father, catching him off guard if only for a split second. "Alexander! Dad said he's going to play with us!"

"Boof!"

Both Al and Ed smiled pleasantly, smiles they hadn't exposed for a long time.

* * *

The next day, it was overcast; the sun from the past week vanishing out of the blue. Kaela brought an umbrella, just in case it would rain.

Al opened the front door. "Hello, Mr Tucker! Thanks for having us again today!" He called.

Something isn't right. The house is enveloped in darkness. Ed peered in when nobody answered Al. Kaela can't keep her stomach from churning.

They entered the house, leaving the front door open. "Mr Tucker?"

"Hey, Nina!" Ed shouts. Neither answer.

The trio made their way to the back of the house where Shou Tucker's laboratory is. They open the double doors, revealing Tucker squatting in the darkness, along with some … thing.

Illuminated by the light from the rest of the house, the creature's fur was white, with a long, brown mane and tail. Its build was almost canine, though something about it was off. The toes on its paws were too long, and its eyes. Oh, God, its eyes. They were blank, white, and unseeing. It didn't even react when Al's armor creaked.

"Mr Tucker?"

Ed sighed from relief. "Oh, you  _are_  home, aren't you?"

"Hey." Kaela stepped back, nearly vomiting from the sound of his voice. It's calm, it's serene, it's  _perverse_. The boys didn't seem to be as affected as their friend, though Ed seemed to be startled at the strange smile Tucker gave them in the dark. "I did it. This is the finished product."

Kaela turned away.

"A Chimera that understands human speech. Look there." He crouched again, looking into the eyes of the Chimera. Thunder rolled overhead. "Listen to me. That person is Edward."

The Chimera looked up, blank eyes never moving. "Ed… ward?"

"Yes! Well done," Tucker muttered, rubbing the beast's head.

"Amazing! It really does talk!" Ed stooped down to watch the creature in fascination.

"Yeah. Now I won't have to lose my state certification." The way he phrased this was weird. Where was everyone else in the house?

The Chimera turned to Ed. "Ed… ward…. Ed… ward…"

Ed watched with wonder as the beast repeated his name.

"Ed… ward…  _Onii … chan_..."

Kaela really did vomit. Al turned around in surprise, concern only showing through his eye that glowed in dark, not hearing the Chimera. But Edward did. He froze and nearly joined Kaela. But his rage kept his composure for him.

"Mr Tucker, when did you get your state certification again?"

"Uh, let's see … two years ago."

"And when did your wife leave?"

Tucker sighed. "Two years ago."

"Can I ask you one more question?" Ed didn't turn his head. The Chimeras in their cages were uncharacteristically silent. "Where did Nina and Alexander go?!"

It's silent, save for the metallic inhale of Alphonse. The silence was too much. Kaela sprinted to the bathroom, heaving out today's lunch, listening to the sounds of Ed's screaming, of the punches landing on the madman's face, of Al's pleading for Ed to stop before it's too late.

Memories of Nina and Alexander flew by in her brain as she tried to catch hold of them and lock them away, knowing she would never make any more with the constantly cheerful yet lonely girl and her fluffy, silly, loving dog. It hurt. It reminded her of the cemetery, the tombstones with the names 'Trisha', 'Yuriy', and 'Sarah'. It reminded her of the cellar, where the only thing she could do for Edward was grab a suit of armor so that he could draw Alphonse's soul back to the living world.

When her stomach had been emptied, and even then she dry-heaved, Kaela returned to find Tucker slumped against the wall, his face beaten beyond recognition. Ed's right fist was bloodied and the white-now-red glove was torn, although the blood obviously wasn't his.

Al was crouched down next to the Chimera, gently rubbing its head. "I'm sorry. With our power, we can't return you back to normal. I'm sorry … I'm sorry …"

"Let's play … Let's play …" The Chimera softly cried.

"I made it in time," Tucker said from his corner, clutching the state alchemist medallion in his hands. "Now … I'll be a state alchemist again."

Ed's eyes were crazy, psychotic. And yet, Kaela reveled in the blow he sent the medallion with his foot, breaking the chain and insignia welded to the front. Tucker gasped, crawling toward the broken, meaningless, inanimate trinket instead of the daughter that loved him so much, even now.

"The hell you're a state alchemist! The hell you are!" Ed snarled.

"Let's play …"

He snapped. Tears welled up in his eyes as he screamed. Kaela couldn't do anything.

* * *

"If there ever was an act of the devil in this world, this case would definitely have to be it."

"The devil, huh? Then again, state alchemists must be willing to act, and not refuse when ordered to take another's life. As far as dealing with others' lives, Mr Tucker's actions and our own positions are not all that far apart."

Mustang walked down the steps of the main entrance to the military headquarter, shortly followed by Riza Hawkeye. The pouring rain did not deter him. "And we chose this path, know that fact full well." He paused midway. "Isn't that right Fullmetal?"

Ed sat on the steps, his body condensed, his soul wounded. Al sat close by, his usually glowing eyes dark. Kaela, however, stood behind them, staring up at the crying sky, allowing the raindrops to burn her eyes.

"You will probably come across other cases like this one later on," Mustang continued after Edward made no move to respond. "You may have to get your own hands dirty, as well. Are you going to come to a standstill like this, each time it happens?" He made his way down the rest of the steps.

"Whether we get called Dogs of the Military, or cursed as devils," Ed mumbled, hugging himself tighter. Kaela glanced down at him. "Al and I are going to get our bodies back. But even so, we are not devils, let alone gods." He stood. "We're human. We're human!"

By the end of his monologue, he was shouting at the sky, mimicking Kaela's earlier position.

"We can't even save one little girl. We're just insignificant humans," he said to himself.

Kael wasn't sure if it's rain or tears on his face.


	4. Rain of Sorrows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a promise is remembered and a promise is made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the second installment of the day. I thought these two chapters should be posted together because they are equally depressing, just at different ends of the story. I'm sorry if it seems a bit rushed and short. I wanted there to be some KaelEd stuff, but I have always had a hard time writing emotional scenes, so I kinda blew through it.
> 
> Besides that, please enjoy! (Well, as much as you can considering how upsetting this episode was)

* * *

Rain of Sorrows

* * *

"Mom … Mom …"

Kaela awoke to Ed groaning in his sleep. Her own sleep had been dreamless, thankfully, but seeing Ed tossing and turning was concerning, especially if they were about his mother. Ed's dreams, even after Trisha Elric's death, were mostly pleasant., although he did suffer from night terrors after the failed transmutation. It was rare when Kaela woke to him calling out for something other than food.

She sat up and slid her legs off of the bed, ready to wake him up and tell him it was just a dream before he sat up with start. Ed's chest rose and fell rapidly, his limbs tense and ready for a fight or flight. Sweat covered his body, dampening his shirt, hair, and the sheets below him.

"Are you okay, Nii-san?" Al asked after a moment, allowing Ed to regain his senses and realize they were in their room at headquarters, the rain trailing down the window panes. "You were having a nightmare."

Kaela hadn't seen Ed this distraught in a long time, and it hurt. It hurt both her and Alphonse to see Edward like this. Ed felt powerless and so did she. His golden eyes, usually filled with a burning fire of determination had dulled into fear and guilt. Eyebrows that were usually angled downward pointed up. His head hung, and he hugged his metal leg, flaxen hair covering his expression.

Kaela couldn't help him.

They readied themselves in silence. Ed took comparatively much less time in the bathroom than the days before. Kaela didn't nag him while she weaved and threaded his braid, hoping her fingers were as soothing as possible. They were out the door before the sun rose in the sky.

She quietly followed the brothers to wherever their destination was, trailing behind further than usual. When Ed and Al stopped at Riza Hawkeye's office, Kaela was a good yard away, watching, waiting.

Al kept glancing behind, worried about Kaela. She had thrown up a lot yesterday, and she still hadn't looked good in the morning. But now that they were on the move, her skin looked less waxy and her eyes were clear and alert. It was almost normal, except for the fact that Kaela had not spoken since the discovery of Nina.

Ed was ready to knock on Riza's office door before it opened to reveal the lieutenant herself. Her brown, doe eyes widened at the sight of the group. "What's the matter, you three? What are you up so early for?"

Ed stuttered, for once in his life unsure of his footing, unsure of how to move on from here. "S-So, um…" He glanced down, unable to meet her worried gaze. "What's going to become of Tucker and Nina?"

Riza faltered become hardening her expression. "Mr. Tucker was scheduled to be stripped of his certification and go to trial, but both of them are dead."

"Dead?!" Al drew forward, disbelief surfacing in his voice. Ed's jaw dropped, unable to find his voice, if only for a moment.

A thick, cotton lump made its way into Kaela's throat. Another person she couldn't stop, couldn't save.

"You'll find this out eventually anyhow, so I'll just tell you now." The lieutenant walked past them down the hallway.

"H-How? By who?!" Ed cried out.

Riza proceeded down the hall, wrapping a black coat around her as a shield to the cold rain outside. Ed followed like a lost puppy, taking in every word she said, "We don't know," she said coldly. "I was just heading over to the scene myself."

Al, who had quickly followed behind his brother with the same determination, stated, "We're coming, too!"

Kaela kept pace behind them, the caboose, not caring what was decided. She really didn't know if she could handle seeing Nina's lifeless body, cruelly taken from her twice. Nevertheless, Kaela also knew that both Al and Ed wanted to confirm, wanted to have this last moment with the little girl and her dog that had been a bright light on their so far shadowy and broken lives.

"No," Riza said, causing guilty relief to bubble inside Kaela's stomach and smoothing over some of the fear she held. Though, knowing Ed, he would fight.

"Why not?!" He demanded, a small fire back in his soul.

Riza turned around on her heel sharply, stopping the boys and consequently Kaela in their tracks. Her stare said everything she was going to say, but Ed still needed the reinforcement. "It's best you don't see this."

And with that, Riza was already down the hall before either Edward or Alphonse could respond to her disapproval.

Kaela felt awful for being glad that Riza had put her foot down firmly, but she was  _scared_. She was scared of the pain of going through that again. Nina at this point was just another person to be added to the list of people she wasn't able to save. And from what the lieutenant insinuated, their murder scene was  _not_  pretty.

She followed Al and Ed wherever they went like a shadow, lost in her own thoughts. By the time they had reached the edge of the city, her eyes had glazed over and it had taken her a full two minutes to reach the fountain where Al and Ed had already sat down.

Both brothers looked at her strangely, at which Kaela could make out the vague concern in Al's eyes. She could only weakly smile in return, sitting on the ground in front of them. Kaela didn't really care whether her bum was soaked at this point or not from the running water in the cracks of the stone. The persistent rain had already drenched her clothes at this point.

It was maybe half an hour or more before Ed spoke. Kaela's full attention was given to him, not feeling the need to pay attention to her surroundings.

"I've been thinking for a long time," he said slowly, "what is the alchemy that we believe in? 'Alchemy is knowing the laws and flow that exists within matter, its decomposition, and reconstruction. The world also follows laws and has a flow, and everything circulates. The death of people is a part of that flow. Accept the flow.' Heh, that's what Teacher would always say to us."

He grinned, but it never reached his eyes. The rain-soaked hair was beginning to curl, covering blank, dampened eyes that stared through Kaela as if she wasn't there. "I thought I understood it. But I didn't understand it. That's why we transmuted Mom." Finally, the pain showed as he scrunched his eyebrows together. "And now, I'm thinking again, 'isn't there something we can do?' about something we can't do anything about. I'm such an idiot. I haven't grown at all since then."

Al looked up at him, somewhat shocked at his words. In his opinion, he believed otherwise. But he knew it would be better if his older brother let everything out. "I thought the rain might wash away some of this gloom from me. But right now, every drop hitting my face is depressing."

"Since I don't have a body," Al started when Ed paused, "I can't even feel the rain hitting my skin. That's something I miss. It's painful. I really want to get my body back again soon and be human again. Even if it means going against the flow of the world, and it's something we can't do anything about."

Kaela stayed silent. She couldn't help them.

"You are the Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric, right?" Kaela twisted around, startled by the large man whom she hadn't heard coming. He was huge in both height and muscularity; one could even under his coat that his arms could squash a head like a watermelon. His face, though, was far more intimidating. The tanned skin with white hair, the X-shaped scar on his forehead, the sunglasses he wore even though it was raining out, it all reminded Kaela of something, a description somewhere.

Kaela stood quickly, as something about the man was off. She reached for her holsters, then realizing that she had left her handguns in the room back at headquarters. Why was she always so useless?

Ed looked up at the man with glazed eyes. The stranger sucked in a breath and drew his right hand up, forming a claw. The young state alchemist's eye widened.

"Nii-san!" Al pulled him out of the way just as the man propelled his hand forward, narrowly missing Edward entirely.

Somewhere, the city's clock tower rang. Everything moved in slow motion as Ed was drawn back by his brothers gauntlets. Kaela ran toward them, nearly slipping on the wet stone underneath her.

Once Kaela was safely behind a certain range, Ed clapped his hands and slammed them onto the ground, a bit of his ferocity returning to him. He fell to the ground as he watched a massive, cylindrical stone wall form around their attacker. "What the hell-?!"

Ed was cut off by an explosion of stone, the wall between him and the strange man destroyed. When the dust cleared, it revealed the man's furious composure, his eyes behind the sunglasses piercing through Edward. As the attacker moved forward, his right hand twitched, forming another claw as he walked.

Ed wasn't moving. Why wasn't Ed moving?

"Ed, get up!" Kaela screamed. With that, it was like she had broken a trance. Ed scrambled to his feet, grabbing her wrist and pulling Kaela into a run, Al close by their side. They made it to the stairs that would take them down to the main floor of the city, but they were cut off when their attacker burst through the wall in front of them, jumping down onto the staircase.

"You're not getting away." His hand twitched and blue lightning came forth.  _Alchemy_? He sent the force forward, crumbling the stairs below the three. Kaela fell with a yelp, only to be grabbed by Edward, hanging by his foot from Al's hand.

The fear in his eyes caused her own face to morph into horror. In the split second that they hung there, Kaela realized that, for the first time in her life, that Ed wasn't strong enough. He didn't have a plan.

Ed focus shifted to the scarred man, who had placed his right hand on the wall of the staircase, sending explosions their way. Kaela lost her grip on Ed and the three of them fell onto the next staircase, which wrapped around the one above. Ed managed to upright himself midfall so that he landed next to his brother and Kaela on his bum instead his face.

Their attacker began to move again.

"Al! Kaela! Grab on!" Ed was yelled. He clapped and smacked the ground, thrusting them through the air riding a stone bridge. The stranger destroyed the bridge at its base, slowing their movement of the ground. The stone bridge crumbled beneath them, but this time, everyone managed to gain their footing.

They ran down the street for their lives, none of them turning around to see if the man was chasing them.

"Damn it, what's this about?!" Ed grumbled. "Making enemies is something I've never …," he paused and made a face, "... really avoided, but …" Kaela snorted. "There's no reason for anyone to try and kill me!"

He looked back. Their attacker was hot on their heels. They turned into an alleyway, hoping to confuse them, but the stranger sent forth alchemic lightning, exploding the building around them and blocking of their path.

Kaela cried out and fell to the ground, something heavy crashing down onto her legs. A loud snap resounded through her body. Ed and Al both whirled around, panicking at her voice. "Kaela!"

Kaela winced as she looked back. An enormous stone chunk had fallen from above and crushed her legs. She tried to move them, but to no avail; they were stuck. Gritting her teeth she pushed up with her hands. No use. The pain was too much.

She swiveled her head to look behind her. The man was nearly upon them, blocking their only apparent exit from the alley. There wasn't time. Even if Ed and Al managed to get this dumb rock off of her, she would just be dead weight. At this point, she was sure her legs were broken.

Ed and Al had begun to run back for her but she shook her head vigorously. "No! Go on ahead without me!" The shook their heads in retort, still rushing at her. "Turn around! Make a door through the rubble, or something. Get out of here!"

They reached her, falling to their knees to lift them rubble. "Stop, there isn't time for this," she commanded as sternly as possible. Al hesitated, used to trying not displeasing her, but Ed ignored her, pushing off the rock with a grunt. She cried out from the pain. Her legs were tattered, bending slightly in the wrong way. "He's almost here, you idiots!"

Finally, they listened, glancing back to see the man striding toward them. Ed glared their attacker as Al dragged Kaela near a wall and propped her up out of the way. "Who are you?!" Ed shouted. "Why are you coming after us?!"

The man stopped, though Kaela couldn't see what expression he was making. "If there are 'creators' like you, then there must also be 'destroyers.'"

"You're saying we have to fight, then?!" Ed clapped his hands and formed a cutlass from a pipe. The brothers rose protectively in front of Kaela.

"There's still time!" Kaela shouted. "Get the hell out of here!" She knew she was being repetitive, but maybe she would get them to understa-

"Shut up!" Ed growled, not taking his eyes off of the man. "We aren't leaving you. What part of 'together' do you not get?"

Suddenly, Kaela was taken back to when they first left on their journey. She had made them promise her, didn't she? That they would reach the end "together." It was almost funny, how she remembered it now, in the midst of battle.

"You're gutsy," the man said with a smirk. The boy took off running. "But still …" The stranger's hand twitched. Ed slashed his knife at the man, and Al threw his fist, both narrowly missing. "You're too slow!"

The attacker's hand swung back, landing on Al's side, shattering the right side of his body.

"Al!" Both Ed and Kaela cried. The suit of armor crashed to the ground, and Kaela looked on in terror, thinking that the man had disrupted the seal. Al was gone. Al was dead, there wasn't a way to bring him back-

"You bastard!" Ed screamed, sprinting at the man and thrusting his sword forward. Their attacker grabbed Ed's arm.

"Too slow!" Kaela couldn't see exactly what happened but Ed was repelled backward, tumbling into the street. His red overcoat flipped over in front of his face, and, frustrated, he tore the coat off, revealing his mechanical arm.

"Damn!"

"Automail? I see, so that's why bodily destruction didn't injure you."

Ed formed his arm into a blade, staring down the man with fury.

"Nii-san, don't. You should run away," Al called. Kaela felt her heart move again. Alphonse was  _alive_. Kaela fell from the wall purposely, turning onto her stomach and crawling forward. If she could just reach Al-

"You dumbass!" Ed retorted. "How can I run away and leave you two behind?"

Kaela continued to army crawl her way down the alley as the man grabbed onto Ed's arm, flattening his left hand against the shoulder. "I will start by destroying this abhorrent right arm of yours."

"No! Don't!" Kaela screamed. She was halfway down the alley now, frantically pulling herself forward with what little arm strength she had. But the man didn't care. In a flash of blue light, Ed's arm was shattered into hundreds of parts, broken beyond repair.

"Nii-san!"

Ed fell onto his back, staring up at the man in fear. He tried to scoot away but lost his balance, falling where his right arm would have normally saved him.

Kaela finally made it to the edge of the alley, close enough so that she could hear the man's words.

"... give you a moment to pray to God," he was saying.

Beside her, Al desperately called out. "Nii-san, run!  _Nii-san_!" Ed didn't even look up. Why wasn't he trying to escape?

"Ed, get up!" Kaela cried.

"Unfortunately," Ed muttered, ignoring Kaela's plea. "I don't have any god I'd like to pray to. Am I the only one you're after? Are you planning on killing them, too?"

No.

"If he interferes, I will eliminate him," the stranger said. "However, Fullmetal Alchemist, you are the only one who is receiving judgment."

_No._

"I see. Then promise you won't harm them." Al gasped.

_No!_

"I will keep that promise."

"What are you talking about, Nii-san?" Al asked, his voice trembling. "What are you doing? Run! Get up and run!" Ed didn't respond.

The man's hand reached out.

"Ed, you dumbass, get up!" Kaela shouted, pulling herself forward again so that she was almost out the alley. Tears streamed down her face. If only she could move her legs. If only she had her guns

_Why was she so useless?_

"Stop! Stop!"

The man nearly touched his head.

_No no no no no no no!_

"Stop! Why you…!" Al reached out.

A gun fired into the air, startling both the stranger and Edward. Mustang's voice called out in the rain. "That's far enough. You sure have been on a royal tear, Scar!"

Kaela felt the rain become relief that washed away her horror and fear. She watched as the man, Scar, stood up straight, backing away from Ed. Kaela pulled herself to one of the walls and propped herself up so she could see what was going on. Al did the same shortly after on the opposite side.

Mustang and all of his subordinates, including Havoc, Fuery, Breda, Falman, and Riza, stood as a firing squad, aiming every gun they had at Scar. Mustang continued, "I'm taking you into custody for being the culprit behind a string of State Alchemist killings."

"Alchemists are those who change things from their natural form into something grotesque," Scar replied. "That is to say, they profane God, the Creator of all things. As an agent of God, I am he who hands down his judgment. If you interfere, I will eliminate you as well."

"He's crazy," Kaela muttered to herself, the effects of adrenaline wearing off. Her vision was starting to get hazy and it was harder to concentrate. The pain in her shattered legs was getting to blindingly searing.

At some point, Scar wasn't standing over Edward anymore, and Riza was firing two pistols at him. A large man, whom Kaela recognized as Major Armstrong, began attacking Scar.

She blinked wearily, and when she opened her eyes, she watched Al punch Ed in the face, his arm shattering from the force.

She blinked again, this time opening her eyes to meet Edward's panicked expression, shaking her with his one good arm.

"-aela!" He yelled, muffled, golden eyes frantic, searching her face. He swung his torso around, keeping a firm grip on her shoulder. "She needs to go to the hospital.  _Now_!"

Before she completely passed out, she mumbled something incoherent. Ed returned his focus to her.

"What did you say?" He leaned in so that she could speak into his ear.

"... I said… Edward … Elric … you're a real … dumbass." After that, she was out.

* * *

"Your right leg has two fractures, while your left only has one," the nurse was saying to Kaela. She nodded. The doctors had reset her bones a few hours earlier, which she nearly passed out again from. This was all old news. "It will most likely be around eight weeks or more for it to heal completely, so you will need crutches after we release you after two weeks. Do you need us to supply you a pair?"

"Probably," Kaela mumbled, staring up at the white, textured ceiling. She been awake for the whole day and had had barely any interaction with anyone besides the doctors and nurses. White walls, white floor, white bed, white clothes. Everything was bland and boring. It was awful enough for her to start finding a green mold colony above the window interesting to stare at.

"Alright, we will reserve them for you until you leave the hospital. We recommend that once you leave, you stay off your legs as much as possible. The muscles around your legs will still be torn and it might take a while even after your bones have fused again for the tissue to heal entirely."

"Yeah, thanks." Kaela would need to remind someone later to get her something to write with so that she could mend her bones more quickly. She needed to get out of here.

There was a knock at the door. The nurse quickly made her way over to it, her heels clicking the surface of the marble flooring. She opened the door.

"Who are you?" The nurse asked politely.

"Edward Elric."

The nurse turned to Kaela for confirmation, and Kaela nodded, waving her hand as a gesture to let him in. She sat up a little straighter, though she winced when he nerves fired pain throughout her lower body.

The nurse exited the room and Ed came in, gently shutting the door behind him. A wave of solace washed over Kaela as she noticed that he looked much better than when she had last seen him several days ago. The fire in his eyes had returned, and they no longer looked sunken and glassy. His golden hair was tied in a looser braid than usual due to Kaela not being around, but Kaela preferred it that way.

"You look much better," she said once he pulled up a chair. "Though, you're missing an arm."

Ed rolled his eyes. "You look like you're not in as much pain."

"Oh, you should have seen me earlier when they were setting my bones. I was throwing a tantrum and everything."

He frowned slightly. "How are they? Your legs, I mean."

Kaela hesitated for a moment before removing the blanket that covered her lower half, revealing two heavily bandaged limbs. She watched as Ed's face became pained as he pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes at the blood that seeped through from the long gashes you had received from the falling rubble.

"Does it hurt?" He asked, scooting closer to her bedside.

"Terribly," Kaela deadpanned. "About as much as you'd expect from three bone fractures." She regretted her words once she saw Ed's face fall even more. "Hey, honestly? I think you got the worse end of the deal. I mean, your arm is  _gone_. Don't worry about it."

Ed wordlessly reached into his pants pocket, pulling out a pair of black fingerless gloves, a transmutation messily hand stitched on the palms. "Sorry, but I snuck into your dresser. I grabbed these for you. Here."

Kaela absolutely beamed as she snatched the gloves from his hand, immediately putting them on. "Oh, you don't know how happy I am to see these! Thanks, Ed. Now, I can get out of here more quickly and we can be on our way." She clapped her hands together and placed them on her legs, yelping slightly when the healing process began. It felt like adding oil to the fire, but she knew this would help her in the long run.

After a moment, he asked, "When do think you'll be okay enough to leave Central?" He peered at her alchemy. He found it interesting how she did it, but he never gained enough medical knowledge to try it out for himself. Thus they had always just stuck to having her heal him after battles. He knew it must feel like hell. All she was doing was speeding up the curative process, meaning triple the normal amount of pain. Kaela was doing a good job of holding it in. Usually, Ed would be yelling and babbling some obscenities as she calmly did her work.

"Well, they- the doctors, I mean, think I'll be good enough to leave after two weeks, but I think if I keep at this, for the time being, I should be alright by tonight." Her eyebrows furrowed in concentrations as she massaged her thigh. This one was the smallest fracture, but the hardest to heal due to the bone being thicker.

"So, we'll be able to head to Resembool tomorrow morning?"

Kaela looked puzzled for a moment before it hit her. "Oh, yeah, probably should get your arm fixed."

He snorted. "I'm glad to know that you think of me in your spare time."

"Pfft, you know Al's really my favorite." Ed scoffed, though Kaela read his expression. She decided to ignore it. "Speaking of which … how is Al?"

"Well," Ed began, scrunching up his face. "Right now he's unable to walk or produce alchemy, so he's hanging out in our room for the time being. He wanted to come to see you, but I didn't really want to break anything else off getting him here, so he's probably reading a book or something."

Kaela nodded. She would have liked to see Al too, but they couldn't take the chance that he could break even further and rupture the blood seal. "Makes sense. How is he feeling?"

"As I said, he can't really do much, so he's feeling pretty cooped up at the moment. Not to mention I told him that when we take the train home he's going to have be in the cargo section." A grin formed on his face. "Al's not too excited about that."

Kaela giggled, thinking about Al sitting with all the suitcases and animals. She almost felt bad for him. Almost.

"Okay. So Resembool tomorrow." Kaela went back to work. "Can you book a pass not so early in the morning this time?" When Ed made a face, she shot him a look. "Don't give me that. As much as I'm a morning person, you aren't when we are sleeping in beds. Not to mention, I'm kind of scared to get up."

His expression softened slightly. "I get it. I'll book three passes for the early afternoon."

"Three? I thought Al wasn't coming with us on the passenger train."

"He's not. Major Armstrong is escorting us in case Scar decides to try something else."

"Armstrong … he's the big guy who likes to flex his muscles, yeah?" Kaela vaguely remembered him protecting them a couple days ago.

"That's him, alright."

"Okay. Good. He's strong." She paused from her work. Kaela had just finished one of the fractures, but she needed to take a quick break. The pain really got to her sometimes, and she wasn't exactly looking forward to doing this two more times. "Anything else?"

Ed was silent for a moment. At first, Kaela thought he couldn't think of anything, but when she saw his face, she knew better. A shadow of regret had passed over his face, and he refused to look at her.

"Ed?"

"I'm… sorry."

"What?" One of her brows rose. Ed rarely apologized directly. Something was still really eating him. "Why?"

"What happened … with Scar."

Oh.  _Oh._

"You mean when you  _gave up_?" she mumbled bitterly, her mood instantly turning sour. His shoulders tensed, but Kaela didn't care. He needed to know that she was hurt. "You mean, when you willingly sacrificed yourself for us, even though it was possible that the man wouldn't kill us if you did run?"

"I thought it was the only way to save you two," he shot back, frustration appearing on his face.

"No, you were just tying up loose ends. It sounded to me like you  _wanted_  to die!"

"And what if I did?!" Ed was shouting. "It hasn't exactly been easy, these last six years. I can only fight for so long!"

Kaela's fists clenched, her nails digging into her palms until she felt a thin rip in her skin. There was some pricking behind her eyes, but she swallowed it down, refusing to resort to those tactics. Instead, she focused on the whirling scarlet in her heart. "That's the point of the word 'together', Ed. That promise that  _you_  reminded me of was supposed to keep us three side by side for the rest of our journey. We share our happiness, our burdens, even our deaths together."

"That's … that's why I'm apologizing." He glanced back down at the floor, trembling as he gripped his leg so hard his knuckles turned white. "I felt that way, but I was being … selfish. I wanted you two to live. It didn't matter if I died." Ed swallowed, meeting Kaela's eyes gradually. "At least, that was my mindset until yesterday. I realized I can't die yet. I need to get Al's body and my limbs back. You and my brother helped me see that."

Kaela kept eye contact, but eventually, she backed down. There was still some swirling red in her chest, but Ed had soothed a large portion of it, replacing it was a somber blue. "I'm sorry, too."

It was Ed's turn to be shocked. "Wait, wait. I thought this was about  _me_  apologizing to  _you_. Not the other way around."

"Do you want to hear my apology or not?"

"Sorry," he chuckled lightly. "I just didn't expect one out of you, that's all."

"Right back at you." Kaela glanced down at her legs. The dried blood under the wrappings was really beginning to itch now. "I'm sorry I didn't understand how you were feeling. I mean, I was and am really sad about what happened to Nina, but I didn't really think how it would affect you or Al. So, I guess, I was being selfish, too." She huffed out a light, humorless laugh. "I was so caught up in my own feelings that I didn't even notice the most obvious signs."

"Oh." How exceptionally quiet he was today.

Kaela grinned and met his eyes again, silver contrasting with gold. "How about this, hmm?" She held up her left hand and formed a fist, leaving her pinky standing up. "Let's make a promise that we'll never be selfish again."

"Kaela, we haven't done this since we were five." Ed wrinkled his nose.

"Exactly! That's why it's going to be fun and nostalgic," she exclaimed happily.

"No. This is for kids," he said, firm in his decision until Kaela gave him a sharp look that gave him war flashbacks. Ed rolled his eyes, unable to stop a smirk from forming on his face. "Fine, fine. Only for you, you tyrant." He met his hand with hers, linking their pinkies together.

"Alright! If either of us breaks this promise, Winry gets to beat them over the head with a wrench."

"Wait-" Kaela quickly let go before he could object, a cheeky smile reaching her eyes.

"It's too late, that's the deal."

"Don't you think that's a little harsh?" He shuddered, thinking about all the times Winry had been angry with him before.

"Then you better not break the promise, Ed. It's in your best interest not to."

Ed snorted and ran his hand through his hair, wistfulness flashing across his face. "You know, you like to act all bad and tough around everyone, but Al and I both know you haven't grown up a bit since we were ten."

Kaela's expression softened. "I could say the same for you." She began working on her leg again, the green light from her alchemy casting a forested hue on the white walls and ceiling. "We grew up too fast, don't you think? I don't think there's a problem in us acting a little childish every now and then."

Ed sat in reticence for a while, watching his best friend work and mulling over his words. It was a comfortable quiet, one that only those who spent nearly every moment together could experience. Maybe twenty minutes passed before Ed finally pulled himself to his feet.

"Al's probably missing me," he said.

"Then you should probably go."

"Yeah. See you later, Kaela."

"Bye, Ed. Tell Alphonse I said hello."

Ed shut the wooden door with a casual wave, leaving Kaela once again by herself, knitting together her bone tissue to the rhythm of the blood pumping throughout her body.


	6. Road of Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Kaela feels something strange as the brothers discover something even stranger.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Please don't kill me. Unfortunately, life, a.k.a applying for and getting accepted into college, gets in the way. I will fight back if you decide I must perish for my inability to be consistent.
> 
> This chapter is LONG. Twenty-four whole pages! Or maybe I just felt it was long. It probably just me.
> 
> Either way, sorry for the late update. I hope you enjoy this chapter from episode six!

  
Road of Hope

Early the next morning, Kaela hobbled her way down the cold floors of the residential building at headquarters. She had just escaped one of the nurses who tried to tell her she wasn't healed enough, but when Kaela swung her knee back and forth like a well-oiled hinge, the nurse was speechless. Kaela deftly sneaked out of the hospital wing after that.

As she limped, her bare feet tingled from the chilly marble. The clothes she had left in the hospital were in tatters and her shoes were smashed, so there was no point in trying to get them back. Still, the chill made her regret not asking Edward to bring her back some extra clothes.

Oh well. She was making good time anyway. By now, her room was just at the end of this hallway.

Kaela hoped she wouldn't wake anybody up with the clacking of her crutch. It was only two in the morning, and she would have waited until later but the hospital bed was starting to feel stiff. Hopefully, she wouldn't wake up someone like Riza or Mustang and get pulverized for doing so. Though, Kaela vaguely recalled the lieutenant and the colonel living somewhere else. She couldn't remember whether they living separate or together.

Finally, after what seemed like five years instead of five minutes, Kaela managed to make it to her room. She opened to door slowly, hoping she wouldn't wake Ed with the creaking noise the hinges produced. Thankfully, Ed's snoring stayed consistent.

Kaela stepped into the room, favoring the wall in place of the crutch she set near the entryway. She nearly tripped over something in the dark of the room.

"Kaela? What are you doing here?" asked the mysterious lump on the floor. Kaela caught herself on the wall and turned around, only to find a suit of armor reflecting the light of the moon.

"Al?" She chuckled slightly. Kaela had been so focused on getting to her bed that she hadn't even looked down. "Sorry for tripping over you. I was a little distracted."

"Oh, that's okay!" Even in the darkness, Kaela could make out the half moon glow of his eyes that signaled a smile. "Just… what are you doing here so late? Or, early, I guess."

"Ah, yeah, sorry about that, too." She sat on her bed, bouncing slightly on the mattress. Sighing, she continued. "I kind of just wanted to sleep in my own bed tonight. The hospital isn't all that comfortable."

"I see. Ed already booked a ticket for around ten this morning, so you'll be able to sleep in plenty."

"Fantastic," Kaela said with a yawn. She crawled to the head of the bed, not noticing that her paper gown was far too short and Al was doing his very best to look anywhere but at Kaela. When she had settled under the covers, she peered over at Al. For a moment, she was silent. "Does it hurt?"

"You mean what happened with Scar?" Al asked. Kaela nodded. "Mm-mmm. Not at all. It just felt like I was losing some range of motion."

"It's good you didn't feel pain." Kaela pulled the blankets further up so that they revealed only her eyes and above. "I was worried … afraid … that it was too painful."

"But it wasn't." Another half moon glow. "Rest, Kaela. I'll be better soon."

She closed her eyes and slept.

When she opened them again, Kaela met those familiar golden eyes, glaring down at her with irritation and embarrassment.

"I need help. Getting dressed." Ed said, inches away from her face.

Normally, Kaela would have just rolled her eyes, but for some reason, something burned inside her chest and rose to her face, flushing her skin red and closing the space between her brows. She remembered the thin paper gown under the blanket. With a yell, she shot a fist up and connected it with his face, knocking him off the bed.

"Oh my God, Ed!" Kaela cried as she sat up, realizing what she had done out of instinct.

"Nii-san!"

"Ugh…" Ed groaned and struggled to push himself up with one arm. Karl swung her leg off the bed, forgetting both that her legs weren't working correctly and that she was still wearing that paper gown, and plunged to the ground next to Ed once she tried to stand up.

"What the hell?" Ed yelled when he saw her sitting next to him, her clothing barely covering enough. "What are you wearing?"

"Urgh … I didn't feel like changing earlier … my legs were already blown out from walking all the way here last night."

Ed averted his eyes as she climbed back onto the bed. "You should have called for me. I would have come and gotten you."

"It was late, and I didn't want to wake you up." Sitting on the edge of the bed, Kaela held out her hand. "Here."

He grabbed her hand, and together, they pulled him up. Grinning, Ed said, "We're all kind of a mess, huh?"

"Go get me my crutch and let me change into some clothes, then I'll help you," Kaela said with a snort.

Ed did as she asked, grumbling about how she made him do everything until she smacked him on the head with the crutch. Kaela was a little bummed her go-to outfit was shredded and burned at the hospital before she could use alchemy on them, but winter was approaching and, with the added reason of being cold all the time as of late, warmer clothes were a must.

Pulling out a plain blue crew neck and slim dress pants, she managed to get into the new clothes without too much trouble by herself. After the usual brushing of her teeth and hair, Kaela limped out of the bathroom to find Ed struggling with his pants.

The young alchemist looked up, this time his own face turning red as he sat half-naked in only his boxers. "Uh… I can do this by myself," he mumbled.

"You obviously can't, dummy." Kaela sat next to him on the bed, the weird feeling in her chest absent this time around. "Come here. This is why you woke me up in the first place, right?"

Ed said nothing as she helped him out his feet into the black slacks. Without a word between them, Kaela pulled his shirt over his head and buttoned his jacket.

"Thanks, Kaela," he said while he sat on the floor as she combed through his hair. She smiled softly although he couldn't see her.

"Just because you help people on a regular basis doesn't mean you don't need help with mundane things like this," she said, beginning to section his hair. After a few moments of continued silence, she continued. "I've been meaning to ask you this, but how in the world did you manage to braid your hair yesterday? You can't have done that by yourself."

"I did it!" Al said happily from the edge of the room.

"You know how to braid?"

"It was actually a combined effort. I was in charge of one section of hair!"

Kaela tried to picture Ed coordinating Al and himself to weave his hair. She chuckled out loud at the thought. No wonder it looked so messy yesterday.

Kaela glanced at Al whilst she braided Ed's hair. She hadn't seen him since the attack a few days ago, and it was too dark to really see him last night. But now that she saw him, her heart sank. Not only was his leg gone, but so was his right arm, covered only by a white cloth. It must have been so weak from the attack that it shattered after Kaela passed out.

"We really have had it rough, haven't we?" She muttered mostly to herself.

"What?" Ed turned his head to look up at her.

"Nothing. Let's get going. The train is going to leave in a couple hours and it's going to take me a lot longer than usual to get there." Kaela dropped the finished braid and pulled Ed off of the floor.

A knock echoed from the door. Kaela attempted to stand, but Ed waved her off with an "I'll get it." He opened the door to reveal Major Armstrong. Unlike before, when they had almost always seen him wearing his uniform, the enormous man was wearing what could be considered a regular outfit. Dark grey trousers, an olive vest over a white button-down and black tie, and a suit jacket made him look like your average citizen if you could ignore his size. Armstrong was carrying a rather large box, presumably for Al.

"Good morning, young Elrics!" Armstrong said, his face forming into a bright smile. He leaned his head to the side and noticed Kaela. "And to you, too, Miss Rockbell!"

While Ed's face fell at the sight of the overt man, Kaela waved back. She particularly enjoyed Armstrong's presence because it irritated Ed, and that was a funny sight.

"Good morning, Major! Are you ready for our trip?"

"Of course! Though, we must hurry if we are to get Alphonse onto the train!" The major had to duck in order the enter the room. The oak floorboards beneath his feet creaked in protest. "Although we have the tickets, getting him aboard the luggage area might be an issue."

"Then let's get going," Ed said. Armstrong picked up Al with ease and set him inside the box. Al was forced to curl up to fit into the crate. With that finished, the strange group made their way to the train station.

Armstrong left to find Al a luggage car to sit in once they made onto the terminal, leaving Kaela and Ed to go find their seats on the train. Kaela immediately slumped against the window, watching the other passengers. It was interesting to people watch in East City. The people she tended to meet with Ed and Al were eccentric and different, each a personality unique to Kaela. But here in a large city like this? There were bound to be normal people.

She imagined the gentleman sitting across from their seat to be a stockbroker, with his bowler hat and fancy watch on his wrist. His young wife might be a well-known lady that hosts tea parties every Tuesday and Thursday, a lady that giggle about handsome men, fashion upsets, and mundane things that Kaela had never been able to enjoy. Sometimes, Kaela would take it a step further and wonder what she and boys' lives would be like had they never tried to resurrect Trisha Elric. Would the brothers have become state alchemists, even then? Would Kaela grow up and become a doctor as she had wanted? Would the three of them separate from each other?

Kaela glanced behind her at a young couple stuck to the hip, the light caresses of their hands causing her the blush and turn around in a flash. Still, it made her frown. Kaela hadn't really ever thought of falling in love, marrying, having kids and the like. Sure, she loved kids, and Kaela knew when a guy was attractive, but it hadn't crossed her mind that those things would eventually happen to her.

Her wandering mind came to a halt when Major Armstrong reappeared onto the train, his head swiveling around looking for the two alchemists. Kaela raised a hand and waved to him. The giant noticed her and smiled, striding over to their seats and plopping himself next to Ed. Ed looked slightly disgruntled but didn't say a word.

A steady rap on the window interrupted the whistles and hissing of the trains coming and going around them. Ed looked up and noticed a familiar face on the other side of the glass.

"Yo!"

Ed opened the window. "Lieutenant Colonel Hughes!"

"The folks at the Eastern Command Center were all busy and couldn't come, so I'm seeing you off instead," Hughes said. Kaela noticed the tired eyebags through his glasses and the five o'clock shadow that covered his face.

"Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel," she said, trying to put as much sincerity in her voice as possible. He gave her a grin that managed to reach his eyes.

"That's fine and all, but…" Ed's eyes slid with disdain to the major who was sitting next to him. "Why is the major still here?" Armstrong sparkled (Kaela wasn't exactly sure what it was or how the major did it) and didn't respond to the negative tone in Ed's voice.

"Isn't it obvious?" Hughes replied, leaning his forearm onto the side of the coach. "What if Scar were to attack you again, or something of the like? You'd be in trouble in the shape your both in, right?"

Ed absentmindedly clutched his arm and squeezed it, a sigh escaping his throat.

"The major means well. Just accept it willingly," the man outside the train continued shrugging slightly.

"Children need not act so coy!" Armstrong said, unknowingly setting off a spark in Ed's head.

"Don't treat me like a child!" Ed shouted. He sobered up a second later and asked, "By the way, you're sure Al got aboard, right?"

"Of course. I put him with the sheep."

"The sheep?!" Kaela's jaw dropped before she began bellowing with laughter. " Why-Why did you-haha!- put him there?" An image popped into her head of Al inside his crate surrounded by the wooly animals bleating around him.

"I thought he would lonesome all by himself." The major said ever so seriously, only empathy in his voice.

"What do you think my brother is?!" Ed yelled.

The bell of the train rang, signaling their soon departure. "Oh, it's time," the lieutenant colonel said with a smirk, looking at the clock on the center of the station. The whistle blew. "Well, then," Hughes said, saluting the three in the train car. "Be careful on your journey. If you ever come by Central, give me a holler."

All three stood up and saluted the officer, nods rippling through the group. The train left the station, but Hugh still stood saluting it until it was out of sight.

Ed fell asleep quickly after that, and Kaela didn't want to disturb Major Armstrong's reading, so she simply stared out the window until she, too, succumbed to sleep's calling for the rest of the day and night.

The next morning, the train stopped at a smaller town that Kaela didn't recognize. Upon arriving, Ed woke up with a yawn, stretching his one arm and groaning. Suddenly, Armstrong happened to glance out the window and abruptly stood up and leaned his head out the window, squishing Ed midstretch.

"Doctor Marcoh!" He called, somewhat surprised and frantic. Kaela leaned her head out the window and Ed pressed his face up against the glass to get a better look. "Doctor Marcoh, that's you, isn't it?! It's Alex Louis Armstrong, from Central!"

An older man dressed in a dark olive coat and brown slacks turned around, a look of panic gradually spreading onto his face. He quickly turned around and ran from the station, not even looking back once.

"Friend of yours?" Ed asked once Armstrong stopped squashing him.

"He's a capable state alchemist from Central. He was researching how to apply alchemy to medical treatment, but he went missing after the Ishvalan Civil War."

Kaela nodded. "I read a lot of his books back at your old house, Ed. His books taught me almost everything I know about healing alchemy."

Ed sucked in a breath, an expression of determination overcoming him, and slid out from under Armstrong. "Let's get off, Major. A person like him might know something about transmuting living things." He ran off the train without another word. Armstrong looked at Kaela, puzzlement clear in his icy blue eyes.

She could only lift her shoulders and grin. "He gets like this sometimes."

After the major picked up Al from the livestock car, they and Kaela met up with Ed already asking around the village placed on the mountainside. It was a beautiful town, with winding streets along the cliffs, the white stucco buildings engulfed by vines.

Again, she imagined a normal life of her own. What if she lived here? The small town had a station, and that would be enough to travel to Resembool and East City in a similar amount of time. It wouldn't be a problem to see the Elric brothers and her sister and grandmother. She imagined herself running her own infirmary, having patients paying only what they could afford and giving what she didn't need to the local businesses.

"Do you know this person, by any chance?" Major Armstrong was saying to one of the villagers. The sketch he was showing them was a spitting image of the man they had seen at the train station.

"Major, you sure draw well," Ed said, though his tone wasn't entirely praising.

"I agree!" Kaela peered over to get a better look at the drawing.

"The art of drawing in likeness has been passed down among the Armstrongs for generations," Armstrong said proudly.

The villager's face brightened into recognition. "That looks like Doctor Mauro."

"Mauro?"

"During the civil war," the villager continued, a smile growing onto his face. "The town's doctors were all drafted, which left us hard up. Doctor Mauro really saved us when he came here."

"He doesn't give up on any patients, and sees them all," another villager told them later on. "We're glad to have him."

"No sooner do you see this flash of light, then you're cured!" A woman said. The three glanced at each other, brows all knitted in knowing.

"Can you point us in the right direction, ma'am?" Kaela asked.

"Oh, are you sick?" The woman looked down at Kaela's crutch and unsteady balance.

"No, but my friend here," she jerked her head at Ed, "is deathly ill. He even lost his arm from the sickness!" Her eyes projected down in faux sorrow, although she could feel Ed's glare on her back.

"Oh, my! Well, he's just up the way … down there … turn at this road …"

"Thank you very much!"

On their way to the place the lady had directed, Ed elbowed her ribs. "Why did I have to be sick?"

"Because you're the one who decided to look for the man. Besides, I couldn't really think of anything else." Kaela would have shrugged if she wasn't using the crutch. Ed only rolled his eyes.

"I think that's the house up there, on that hill," Al's voice said from the crate on Armstrong's shoulder. The house he pointed to was a fairly minimalist house, built in a cuboidal shape with the exception of the floor, where it slanted from the natural incline. Bits of ivy reached the second level, but no farther than that. Leading up to the second level, which Kaela assumed to be the main level, was a set of stairs with an iron railing for safety.

They walked up the mountain, Armstrong a considerable ways behind Ed and Kaela. Though the major was strong, Kaela wasn't going to blame him if he was tired. The villagers around here all had pretty toned legs, from what she had seen, and young locals still stopped occasionally to rest. When they had reached the simple block home with overgrowth along the walls, Kaela found it surprising that Armstrong hadn't even broken a sweat even with Al on his shoulder.

Ed skipped up the steps and read the nameplate at the door. "This is the place." He knocked on the door twice and moved to open it. "Hello-"

Ed found himself face to face with a barrel of a gun, dodging out of the way just in time before the pistol went off. Kaela's own handgun was out in an instant, pointing at the supposed Doctor Mauro.

"What are you here for?!" The strange man squawked, eyes darting between the guns pointed at his face and Major Armstrong. "Are you here to take me back there?!"

"Please, calm down, Doctor." Armstrong put up a hand in an attempt to soothe the frightened man. Ed trembled and pressed himself up against the wooden door.

The doctor shook his head, and his gun quivered. "I don't ever want to go back there! Please, anything but that!"

"It's not that. Hear me out-"

"Then you're here to silence me, is that it?!" Kaela wondered if Doctor Marcoh's face was normally serious and stern. His square jawline, large nose, and narrowed eyes reminded her of some of the older officers back at headquarters. However, the largest difference was the plain fear that morphed his face from strong to weak.

"No, it's not that!" Major Armstrong was beginning to lose his calm and took on more of a scolding tone. When realizing this, he sighed. Then, out of nowhere, he threw Al's box at Doctor Marcoh, slamming him into the ground. "Please, I'm asking you to calm down!"

"Al!" Ed yelped.

It was easier to get the doctor to cool off once they had taken his gun away. They ended up sitting at a large, wooden, square table in the center of his work area. Kaela scanned the room. A couple cases sat in the corner of the room, one filled with medical books and the like, the other line with medicines and supplies. There were many wooden crates in the room that was in no particular place, but Kaela saw that one of them contained a good amount of stones. On one side of the room was a small alcove with a mysterious cabinet; the other side had several clean, white-sheeted beds lined up against the wall.

Armstrong sat on one side of Marcoh, who somehow managed to look sheepish and fearful at the same time. Ed sat across from the older man, with Kaela standing behind him like a sentry, leaning just barely on the wooden prop. Doctor Marcoh eyed her and the guns in her holsters warily while she stared at him, watching for anymore fight or flight actions.

"Imagine, changing your name and living in hiding out here in the countryside," Armstrong said, his tone back to seriousness. "I'd heard stories that you disappeared, and that you took top-secret materials with you."

"I couldn't take it anymore. Nevermind that it was ordered from above, to have to dirty my hands researching that thing…" Marcoh trailed off and screwed his eyes shut from the memories.

"That thing?" Ed asked, mostly under his breath.

"During the Ishvalan Civil War," Marcoh began, "So many innocent people lost their lives because of it." He flinched again and his breath hitched. "I could give my whole life, and still not atone for what I've done. Even so, I decided to do all that I could, so I became a doctor here."

"Doctor, just what was it that you were ordered to research?" Armstrong asked. The curiosity was eating away Kaela's patience, and she leaned in slightly.

Marcoh looked up but didn't meet anyone's eyes, preferring the table. "The Philosopher's Stone."

This enraptured everyone's attention, especially the brothers'. Kaela glanced down at Ed to find his shoulders and hand tense.

"What I took out of there were my research materials, and the Stone itself."

"You have a Stone? Here?!" Ed stood up and slammed his hand on the table, causing Marcoh to jump a little. The doctor hesitated, if only for a moment, then pulled out a small vial of scarlet liquid. He unscrewed the vial's top. "That's the Stone? But it's a liquid…"

Marcoh dumped the contents of the vial onto the table. "What are you doing?!" Kaela nearly shouted. Ed and Al had been risking their lives to find this material and he was just dumping it before their eyes?

But the red liquid didn't splatter onto the table as they had expected. Instead, it formed into a jelly-like matter, completely changing its physical form in a mere second. "'The Sage's Stone,' 'The Celestial Stone,' 'The Grand Elixir,' 'The Red Tincture,' 'The Fifth Element' … Just as the Philosopher's Stone is called by many names, its form is not necessarily that of a stone. However, this is an incomplete product. There's no telling when it will reach its limit and become unstable." Marcoh seemed to shrink even further into his shoulders as he said this, somewhat like a turtle.

"Even so, it demonstrated plenty of force during the Ishvalan Civil War," Ed said darkly. Marcoh's eyes flashed up with an "Eh?" Ed continued, "The same was true of that false priest in Liore. It may have been incomplete, but his abilities were definitely increased. If something that potent can be produced, then depending on the research, a complete product is not impossible." Ed was getting more and more excited as he spoke, enough so that he was grinning by the time he asked, "Doctor Marcoh, can I see your research materials?!"

"Major, who exactly is this boy?" Marcoh asked Armstrong, a hint of panic in his voice again.

Armstrong's forever intense blue eyes slid over to the doctor. "He is a State Alchemist."

"A child like this?" Marcoh pinched the bridge of his nose and winced as if he were in pain. Kaela was beginning to feel sorry for the man because his range of emotions during this visit was quite limited to surprise and fear. "After the civil war, there were so many alchemists who turned in their certifications because they could not bear to be human weapons. And yet, you…"

"I realize how foolish it is!" Ed gripped the base of his missing arm, glaring across the table at the man who stood between him and the object of their long journey. "But even so, I have to keep lying here until I achieve my goal, even if it is on a bed of thorns!"

Twenty minutes later, Marcoh sighed, much less on edge than he had been earlier. "I see. You've committed taboo." He gripped the box containing Al and stared down at him in curiosity. "You surprise me. Imagine: being able to transmute a specific person's soul. You might just be able to produce a complete Philosopher's Stone-"

Ed's face lit up. "So, then…?"

"-But I cannot show you my materials."

"No way!"

"You must not seek after this thing!" Marcoh turned away, obvious shame covering his body.

"Not even to get out bodies back?!"

"No! It is the devil's research!" Ed's face was beginning to get more irritated than frustrated as Marcoh continued. "If you learn about it, you will go through hell."

"I've already gone through hell!" Ed shouted.

They were promptly asked to leave after that. As the three, plus Al, walked down the stairs (more like hobbled in Kaela's instance), Kaela noticed Ed stopping to turn around. Her brow rose. "Maybe if you hadn't been so forceful, he might have been a little more lenient."

Ed didn't respond how she thought he would. "...Maybe," was all she got out of him. Kaela internally shrugged while they marched down the stair to catch up with Armstrong.

They reached the station in relative silence. The guys decided to sit on a bench while waiting, but Kaela decided to walk the edge of the platform, her crutch carefully placed on the side where the edge wasn't, a question that had formed in her head during the earlier conversation being picked apart.

Doctor Marcoh was most definitely suspicious. Not only did he pull a gun on a young boy (to Marcoh's defense, Ed could probably tear him apart if he really wanted to, but Marcoh didn't know that), but he also denied the boy any sort of knowledge even after hearing his story and realizing that he could be easily killed by this boy. There was also the fact that Marcoh was in hiding, to begin with. Something about his research must really be horrifying. Kaela was beginning to not want to know exactly what the creation of the Philosopher's Stone entailed, even if it would help the brothers.

Kaela turned around as the train's whistle blew, the plume of dark smoke not too far in the distance. Armstrong and Ed had already approached the platform with Al on Armstrong's shoulders.

"...What about you, Major?" Ed was saying. "Are you okay with not reporting back to Central about Doctor Marcoh?"

"All I met today was a simple small-town doctor named Mauro," Armstrong replied simply. Ed chuckled. None of them, no matter how upset they were for not obtaining the information on the Stone, would be alerting headquarters the location of the doctor.

"Hey!" Speak of the devil. Marcoh appeared to the left, panting heavily with his hands on his knees. He straightened up just as the train came to a piercing halt.

"Doctor Marcoh…" But Ed didn't have time to finish. Marcoh quickly handed the young man a small piece of folded paper.

"This is where my materials are hidden." Slowly, Ed took the paper from Marcoh's hands. "If you are sure you won't regret learning the truth, then take a look at this. Knowing you, you will be able to find the truth within the truth- No, I've said too much." Marcoh smiled slightly for the first time, though it was a sad sort of smile. He waved as he left. "I pray that the day will come when you get your bodies back."

Kaela followed Armstrong's lead and saluted to the retreating figure's back before stepping onto the train.

"Nii-san, what does it say?" Al asked once they were seated and moving along. They had been able to request that the box of armor would stay on the same car as them for...security reasons.

Ed unfolded the paper and read its contents. "National Central Library, First Branch."

"Ah!" Kaela exclaimed, leaning over to see the paper. "I know where that's at!"

Armstrong nodded. "To hide a tree, place it in a forest. The volume of books there is enormous, after all."

"There are clues about the Stone there." Ed grinned.

* * *

 

Den and Pinako were waiting for them when the group of three neared the house. They too far away to hear what Pinako yelled inside the house but she could guess who she was yelling at.

"Yo, Granny," Ed called in greeting.

"We're home," Al added. Kaela gave a small wave from behind Armstrong.

"My word, what have you gotten into?" Granny asked. Den's tail wagged when he saw the dog treats in Kaela's hand that she had picked up in the cliffside town.

"A lot has happened. Can you set us up again?" Ed shrugged off her concerned tone. Armstrong set Al down and shook Pinako's hand. "This is Major Armstrong."

"Pinako Rockbell," she offered back. Kaela busied herself with Den, who was torn between the treats in her hand and the curiosity of Al being shoved in a crate. She threw the treat up into the air, watching with a smile as Den jumped up and caught it in his mouth. "You know, I don't see you for a while, Ed, and you've gone and grown smaller."

Ed grunted and stared down at Pinako. "Hey, usually in this situation, you say 'grown bigger'."

Pinako met his challenge. "If you had grown bigger I would have said it."

"What was that, you minimum hag?!" Ed snapped and bared his teeth at her. Suddenly, he was knocked down by a flying object which Kaela identified as a wrench.

"I told you when you come back for maintenance, call first!" A familiar voice called from the balcony.

"Winry! Are you trying to kill me?!" Ed screamed, apparently back from the dead. She only giggled in response.

"Welcome back!" Her eyes turned to Kaela and they widened. "Kaela?"

In moments Winry was downstairs and choking Kaela in what was assumed to be a hug. "I'm glad to see you, too, Winry." Kaela began tapping on Winry's back as her face began to go numb. Thankfully, her sister let go and her chest was allowed to heave in some air.

"I didn't think you came with them for maintenance, Kaela," Winry said, jerking her head over at the practically destroyed brothers.

"Well, I usually don't," Kaela rolled her eyes, "But these guys have created a circumstance in which I can't leave them alone." Winry glanced down at her sister's crutch, confusion making its home in her expression.

"What happened?"

Kaela sighed and gestured toward the house. "Let's just have a look at Ed's arm before we do anything."

It was probably a mistake to show Winry instead of calmly easing her into the situation. She stood horrified, staring at the shattered automail. Screws and bolts that they salvaged were spread out along the table, although the larger plates of metal had some nasty edges to them and most likely couldn't be reused until Ed was able to transmute them into something more useful. Kaela simply chose not to do Ed's dirty work; he could fix his own mistakes.

Winry shrieked and picked up the ripped wires and torn plugs. Ed sat on the couch drinking some coffee nonchalantly, unaware of the possible damage he could receive in a moment.

"Yeah, sorry," Ed said in between sips. "It's all smashed up."

Kaela watched with amusement as Winry's back trembled. "All smashed up? This is the first-rate automail I put my whole heart and soul into making!"

"Yeah, and now it's all in tiny little pieces."

The punch that he received not a second later was not unwarranted, Kaela decided. She drank her own tea while Winry chastised and swiftly kicked Al in his crate.

"And you, Kaela!" Winry cried, turning onto her mellow and relaxed sister. "I know you also got in trouble, too!" She pointed an accusing finger toward Kaela's crutches that lied against the wall near the couch before huffing and placing her hands on her hips. "Geez, all you do is worry me."

"Kaela," Pinako said from behind Winry. "Why don't you and Major Armstrong tell us what happened while-" She glanced down at Ed, who was entirely knocked out, and Al, whose jaw was barely hanging on, "-those two are out of commission."

And she did. Kaela didn't leave a single detail out (except for the ones that would only worry Pinako and Winry, like what had happened at the Tuckers' and Ed's consecutive depression). She also mentioned their previous stop at the cliffside town and the information they had received there.

Pinako tapped her pip into a nearly full ashtray. "I see. And in order to get that information, you want to go to Central as soon as possible?"

"Yeah." Ed nodded, now fully conscious. They sat on the couch while Pinako checked out his shoulder and leg automail. "We'd like you to put a rush on this."

Pinako sighed. "It's not just the arm. Your leg needs adjusting, too."

"Ah, because he's grown so much, right?" Winry jeered with sly eyes.

Kaela elbowed him in the ribs. "Man, I guess you didn't shrink after all. You might even surpass me when you're fifty!"

"Shut up!" Ed growled at both girls. Pinako tapped her pipe on his knee to silence them.

"The leg aside, we'll have to build the arm from scratch."

"Can you have it done in a week?" Kaela nodded at Ed's eager question. They needed to get the information on the Stone as soon as possible. Besides the anxiousness and excitement to get their hands on that knowledge, Kaela felt something wasn't quite right. The sneaky and secretive way Marcoh had acted was all too suspicious.

But Pinako only smiled. "Give us some credit." She blew some smoke from her pipe. "Three days." In moments, they had taken off the old leg and replaced it with one even more unbalanced than the old one. "Make do with this spare, for now."

"Mm-hmm," Ed grunted, nearly tripping as he stood up. "Sure is hard to walk on a leg I'm not used to."

"We'll be finished before you're used to it," Pinako replied.

"Want to borrow my crutches?" Kaela offered, jerking her head at the wooden fixtures setting against the wall next to her.

"You need them too, though," Winry said from where she was hunched over analyzing Ed's leg.

"Not really. If I get a few good hours in tonight, I'll be fine to walk by tomorrow morning."

"It's fine," Ed said with a shrug. "I'll only have this leg for a few days, anyway."

"That being said," Winry began, straightening her back with a perplexed look on her face. "Between machining, assembly, connecting, and finishing, I'll be pulling nothing but all-nighters."

"Sorry to ask so much of you." The boy glanced over with a guilty frown.

But Winry spun around, an enthusiastic grin parting her lips. "You want to get to Central as soon as possible, right? That's why I'll overwork myself for you! But in return, you're going to pay a bundle in rush order fees!"

Kaela didn't miss the red tint that colored Ed's cheeks.

* * *

 

The rest of the day was spent in comparative leisure in reference to the past few years of Kaela's life. Ed and Al spent their time outside, while Pinako and Armstrong prepared dinner. Winry had already gone upstairs to her workshop to begin the process of recreating Ed's broken limb. In turn, Kaela used her time to heal her leg.

It was boring work, although it called for complete focus. She had to concentrate on every muscle, every tissue that needed to be sewn together. But it didn't help Kaela had already been staring at that green light for a while now, including several hours the night before. It also was physically and mentally exhausting. Kaela found it only took her twenty minutes to start sweating in comparison to the one hour it normally took. She was spent, and she knew it, but she couldn't be hobbling around for the rest of the week. The three of them had work to do, and the least she could do was walk around like a normal person.

Close to around suppertime, Armstrong burst into the living room where Kaela was tending to her leg, tears rolling surprisingly easily down his face. Startled, the glow evaporated from her hands and leg as Armstrong fell to his knees and embraced her tightly.

"Oh, Miss Michaela Rockbell!" He sobbed as she tapped his arm like she had seen those who were losing in a wrestling match do. Somehow, he was sparkling. Again. "Your story, such a sad and touching tale! On par with the Elric brothers'! You, who has lost all the adults in your life, are left with only your adopted sister and grandmother, along with your childhood friends! Oh, how sorrowful! Let me give you this hug in hopes it will lift your spirits!"

Kaela nearly turned purple by the time Armstrong let go. She took a few deep breaths before asking, "What … brought this on … Major?"

"Miss Pinako has told me yours and the Elric's story. I could not hold back from empathizing with the three of you."

Kaela snorted. "My story isn't sad, or even worth sympathizing with. I'm happy-happier than I was before-simply traveling with my best friends. I'm making new friends and growing older each day. I'm alive. That's all I need." She smiled. "You should save your sympathy for a real tragedy, Major. Save it for a story like those silly brothers'. They aren't living the way they want to."

Armstrong paused for a moment before clasping his hands together as if praying and looked on at a shocked Kaela with starry eyes. "How inspiring, Michaela Rockbell! I shall keep your words in my mind for a long time with the Armstrong family's well-known long-term memory!"

Kaela giggled and rolled her eyes. "All right, Major, I need to get back to work if you want me to be able to walk tomorrow."

"My apologies."

"It's fine. While you're here, can I ask when dinner will be ready?"

"Supper should be done in thirty minutes!" Pinako called from the kitchen.

Twenty minutes later, Ed opened the door, calling out his presence. However, the major had been waiting for him with tears, sparkles, and all.

"Edward Elric!" Armstrong grabbed Ed and enveloped him in his arms, unknowingly placing the boy in a choke hold. "Such immaculate love, to try to bring your mother back to life! Such tremendous love, to be willing to give up your own life to transmute your brother's soul! Such dreadful determination, to burn down the home that held so many memories for you, to cut off any retreat! Let me at least offer this embrace!" … And he had thrown his shirt off for some reason.

Ed escaped and ran to the opposite side of the room. "Stay back! Too stuffy! Stop!"

Once Armstrong redressed himself and left a panting Ed alone, they all sat down to eat. Kaela found it quite nostalgic of the first few years she had arrived here. Even when Trisha was alive, the boys often came down for supper. Pinako's hearty dishes really brought people together.

It only took Kaela another hour or so to finish the healing process to the point where she wanted it. By that time, she figured she would probably sleep all the hard work off and test out walking in the morning.

Instead, she not only slept through the night but through the rest of the next day, too. Dusk's red fingers reached into the room and gripped the walls and floor, finding the perfect spot to rest on Kaela's eyes. This finally woke her up. When she opened her eyes, Kaela found herself in her old bed, tucked in as she had as a child. She guessed it to be Armstrong's work. She left the room, her stomach crying out for food. Kaela just hoped that she hadn't missed dinner.

"Enough!" Down the hall, Ed was thrown from Winry's room, and the door slammed shut behind him. Kaela snickered as she approached him.

"Did you get kicked out?" She asked, helping him up off the ground. He puffed slightly, but she took that as a yes. "Patience is a virtue, Ed."

"What about you?" He gestured at her. "You slept all day, you sleep monster."

"I'm pretty sure you meant 'Sleeping Beauty'."

"If I had meant that, I would have said it."

"Careful, or your leg might be knocked out from under you."

Ed shrugged with a snort. "Whatever. I was going to wake you up anyway. It's around dinner time."

"Really? Good." Kaela grinned excitedly, then looked down the stairs. She wasn't really looking forward to trying out stairs again, even if she could walk without a limp.

"So, how are your legs?" Ed asked, instantly knowing what was on her mind after following her gaze. "I know you're worn out from using so much alchemy. Something must have come out of it."

She nodded. "I can walk perfectly fine now, but I'm not ready for running or anything more physically demanding."

"Do you need help down the stairs?"

"Excuse me?" Kaela's eyebrows shot up. "Is Edward Elric offering me assistance? I never thought I'd live to see the day!" She swooned with a snarky grin.

"Tch." Ed placed his hand on his hip and glanced away, refusing to meet her eyes. "If you don't want my help, then just say it."

"I'm kidding, Ed. I think I'll be okay, but I really do appreciate the thought." Kaela smiled genuinely. "Thank you."

For a moment, the sunlight peeked through the window just before it ducked under the horizon. The red and orange tendrils of light came to play again, stroking Ed's hair and making it shimmer.

But the gold in Ed's eyes drew Kaela's attention. Ed had always had beautifully colored eyes; Kaela had only ever seen the same color in Al's eyes and in the pictures of their father pinned in the entryway of the Rockbell home. However, in the sunlight, a beauty in its own league struck something in her chest. It gave him a royal and commanding demeanor that rarely ever showed itself, and, yet, the soft depths of his pupils that could go on forever counteracted the surface appearance.

Something was wrong with her. Her stomach began to feel strange, as though electricity had somehow shot through her abdomen and tickled the linings of tissue. Kaela's chest tightened and her throat constricted. Was she sick? Something told her that wasn't the case, but she hadn't ever experienced this feeling, so Kaela couldn't exactly identify what exactly was going on. She glanced away with a sudden and an odd feeling of embarrassment, hoping Ed would mistake the red coloring on her face with the sun's last kiss.

This time, she missed Ed's tinted cheeks while his gaze never left her.

"Ah, okay," Ed coughed out, finally averting his eyes. "I'll be downstairs. Call me if you still need help."

"Shouldn't it be the other way around?" The tension left as he kicked out his metal leg at her. "I'll be down in a few minutes." Ed waved her off as he made his way down the stairs, slowly shifting his weight on the metal leg with each step.

Kaela watched him for a moment, still confused about what had just transpired, before turning and knocking on the door behind her. "Winry?" She called.

"Come in, Kaela."

Kaela opened the door to see Winry putting down a ruler with one hand and taking off her goggles with another. She smiled when she saw her sister, though exhaustion had colored under her eyes a light shade of purple. "Hey," Kaela said, shutting the door behind her. "How's it coming."

Winry sighed. "I think it will be finished on time, but if Ed keeps coming in here and hovering over me …"

"Don't blame him too much. He's just ready to get back out on the road."

"Right, I know." Winry stretched her arms and slumped back in her chair, blue irises fixating themselves on the metalwork on her table. "It's just a little irritating. And it gets hard to concentrate when he does that sort of thing."

"Oh, don't even get me started." Kaela groaned. "It gets worse when you live with him. Every time he allows me to finally wash our clothes when we're out on the road, he sits about two centimeters away from me and makes random jeers every ten minutes while I try to scrub out the dirt."

Their laughter filled the room. Winry wiped her eye with the crease of her elbow and said, "That is so much like him!"

"Well," Kaela chuckled out once she had settled down a little. "I better let you get back to it. You want me to bring up some supper?"

"Yeah, just bring it up after you're done eating. Chances are I won't be hungry until then."

"Alright."

"Oh, and Kaela?" Winry called just as Kaela left through the door. Her sister paused. "I'm glad you're home, but … try to keep out of trouble from now on, okay? It's not just the boys. Granny and I worry about you, too."

Kaela scanned Winry's face. It was more often that the brothers came back in pieces and Kaela perfectly intact because she knew how to handle herself at a distance from the enemy. This was the first time Kaela had come home with more than a couple scratches. Albeit she was observant, she hadn't noticed Winry's worried glances directed at her or Pinako's subtle way of pushing what was usually Kaela's chores onto Armstrong or Ed. Now, Winry's blue eyes, so different from Kaela's muted grays, bored into her with affection and fondness that Kaela found she had yearned for in the past year or so.

"Okay," Kaela answered slowly. "I'll do my best."

* * *

 

"They said it would take three days to finish," Al was saying as Ed and Den lay in the grass the next morning, "so just sit still and wait."

"If you keep trying to rush Winry, it's only going to be that much longer," Kaela added. She rubbed Den's belly, who wiggled his legs in response.

"Yeah, I know." Ed sounded pretty defeated, but his body language was at the level of a child throwing a tantrum. "But when I think about how the secret to the Philosopher's Stone is in Central, I just can't settle down!" He kicked his legs out squirmed on the grass to prove his point.

Den barked and the three looked over to see Winry running from the house, holding a familiar, silver limb. "Sorry for the wait! It's done!"

Moments later, Ed sat on the couch while Armstrong and Kaela looked on, a pleased smirk on the latter's face. The Fullmetal Alchemist grit his teeth, refusing to look at neither Pinako nor Winry who were each holding a metal limb at each port.

"Ready?" Pinako asked.

"Y-yeah!" Ed said in pseudo eagerness. He closed his eyes, sweat beading on the sides of his face.

"One…"

"What's wrong?" Armstrong whispered to Kaela.

"Two…"

"According to Ed, this process is pretty painful. I'm not sure if it really is, or if he's just a wimp, though," Kaela replied, not taking her eyes off of the hilarity that was an uncomfortable Edward Elric.

"Three!"

Ed grunted and made a high pitch noise, but he settled down fairly quickly. "I hate that moment when the nerves connect, every time."

"You did better this time around," Kaela said, approval deemed with an upward thumb.

Ed ignored her. "But once we get a Philosopher's Stone, I can kiss that pain goodbye!"

"Too bad," Pinako said as she tightened a few bolts around his leg to keep it in place. "I hate to lose our biggest source of income." Ed made a guttural noise as she jerked the wrench toward her.

"Right," Winry said casually. "You don't have to overexert yourselves to get back to normal." Ed shrieked again as she made a similar movement. "Besides, isn't it nice? The smell of oil, the hum of the bearings … the rugged yet beautiful form whose design is based on anatomical engineering … Ah! How wonderful you are, automail!"

"Crazy gearhead," Ed mumbled.

"Shut up, alchemy freak," Winry shot back.

"Alright, we're done," Pinako said. Ed gave himself a once-over before stretching out his new limbs, doing certain movements Kaela was sure she couldn't even attempt without getting hurt, what with her flexibility. Oh, well. Flexibility wasn't a necessity from her standpoint. She could point a gun just fine without it.

"So, how is it?"

"Yeah, feels good." Ed made a few arm circles and grinned at the old woman.

"This time, I increased the percentage of chrome to try to make it less prone to rusting," Winry informed. "The tradeoff is that its strength isn't as great, so don't try anything crazy with- Hey, listen to me!"

Ed had already taken off running. "Al, sorry to keep you waiting!"

Armstrong and Kaela followed him out back. Al sat there, his body parts scattered around on a blanket. "You can fix him right away?" Armstrong asked.

"Yup. You kind of have to know the trick to it, though. This seal on the inside of his back is the medium between Al's soul and the armor, so I have to be sure not to ruin it," Ed said, clapping his hands and beginning the process to fixing his brother.

"Ah! That's why Miss Michaela hasn't done it in the meantime!"

"Yeah," Kaela answered, watching Al's body reform. "I know his secret, but I don't know the exact details of fixing him, or where I am and am not allowed to touch. Ed doesn't really let me do it, anyway."

"That, and you suck at any type of alchemy that doesn't involve healing," Ed snorted. "All right, good as new! Wanna go at it now?"

"Yeah," Al said. Within moments, the two were punching at each other, dodging, blocking. Armstrong looked bewildered, but Kaela stared up at the sky.

"It's going to be hectic from here on out, huh?" She asked no one in particular. Armstrong glanced down at her.

"What do you mean?"

"It's quiet out here in the country. But in the city, it's bustling, lively, and dangerous." Kaela sighed, watching the clouds pass. "Something could go wrong, or we could get attacked again. Most likely both, with our luck. I just hope that we find the Philosopher's Stone, and quickly."

Armstrong hesitated before he spoke, carefully choosing his words. "I'm sure that your future will turn out fine. But life is full of hills and bumps, and it may not go the way you always want it to. It's just unfortunate that you children have experienced so many mountains at such a young age."

"Right."

* * *

 

Early the next morning, just before the sun blessed the earth, the four of them were standing at the front of the porch, properly dressed and suitcases in hand. Pinako had woken up to see them off.

"Thanks for everything, Granny," Ed said.

"Sure," Pinako grunted.

Al rose from petting Den. "Huh? Where's Winry?"

"She has been working overnight for several days in a row," the old woman replied. "Want me to wake her up?"

"That's okay, that's okay." Ed waved her off. "She would just nag me about making sure to do maintenance and whatever. Well!" He turned to leave, Armstrong and Al close on his heels, and Kaela bringing up the rear with a yawn.

"Listen, kids," Pinako called. The four turned around, confused. "Come on back once in a while and have dinner with us."

"Mm!"

"Heh, you want us to come all this way into the mountains just for dinner?" Ed snarked. Pinako smiled through the pipe between her teeth.

"Ed, Al, Kaela …" Winry appeared on the balcony, messy-haired and bleary-eyed, waving a hand slowly. "Have a safe trip."

Ed turned around scratching his head, before deciding to wave as he left. "Yeah!"

Kaela waved dramatically to her sister, a fond smile appearing through her obvious tired features. "See you soon, Winry! Bye-bye!"

Once they were a proper distance away, Kaela found herself walking next to Ed. Smirking slyly, she elbowed him in the ribs.

"Hey!" he cried, rubbing his side while glaring at her. "What was that for?"

"If you wanted to see Winry before you left, you should have just said so," Kaela said cooly, not looking at the boy next to her. Not wanting to look at the boy next to her.

"I … I didn't! I mean, it was fine, but-"

"My sister is cute, hmm?" The metallic giggle behind her signaled that Ed was visibly floundering. But Kaela didn't want to look, because even though her smile was still plastered on her lips, there was something ugly curling up in her chest at the thought of his embarrassed face when he thought about someone else.


	7. Final Chapter (for now)

**Wow, the title sure is ominous! The last chapter? But we're only a few episodes into a long series!**

 

**No worries! I am still planning on continuing this story, just somewhere else. This fic just isn't getting the publicity I want it to be getting I want on this site. As I mentioned in the very first chapter, I have also posted this story on FanFiction.net, where it is getting pretty well-received.  If you want to continue reading the story, I'm going to direct you over to my account on that site.**

 

**Don't worry if the direct link doesn't work. My username on FanFiction.net is the same as it is on here!**

 

**Thank you for taking the time to read this important PSA!**

 

[FanFiction.net Version](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13099457/1/Support)

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, lovelies! Thanks for finishing the chapter!
> 
> As you can probably tell, I'm going to follow as close to the 2009 anime as possible, though the plot will change with the inclusion of Michaela in the plot.
> 
> If you catch any inconsistencies, whether they are just in the FF or when compared to the original story, please PM me! I think I weeded out all the grammar mistakes, but you can never be to sure.
> 
> Please leave a review and tell me what you think!


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